


Stephew One Shots (GTLive)

by LarkSweetsong



Category: GTLive, Game Theory - Fandom, youtube - Fandom
Genre: F/M, GTLive - Freeform, Game Theory, Mostly Fluff, Stephew, one shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2018-07-27
Packaged: 2018-08-29 04:17:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 42,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8475013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LarkSweetsong/pseuds/LarkSweetsong
Summary: Having noticed a lack of MatPat and Stephanie fanfiction within the Theorist community, I decided to create this collection. Some stories may be based on true events, others may be entirely fictional, and I am more than happy to accept prompts from any readers who have an idea for a one shot. This is made with total respect for Matthew and Stephanie, I honestly think they are both amazing role models and together they are #relationshipgoals on so many levels. All the one shots will be fairly tame, so it should be friendly to all the Theorist Family! This all being said, I hope you enjoy reading!





	1. Of Jump Chairs and Closets

"Are you okay?"   
Matt jumped as Stephanie gently placed a hand on his shoulder. They had just finished another GTLive TGISGF, this week the second instalment of the VR Horror game A Chair in A Room: Greenwich… Grenitch? or was it Greenwater? Matt wasn't really that great at remembering, probably because the rest of the game took so much out of him.   
Jason was over at his little corner station doing whatever it was he did after the stream to make sure everything shut down properly and all that jazz, and Matt was lying on the floor of the room, trying desperately to recover from the outright terrifying game he had just been subjected to. Well, at least everyone else had found it entertaining.  
"You were really freaking out there buddy," Steph said sweetly, rubbing Matt's arm comfortingly.  
"I just need to lay here and compose myself for a few minutes… or hours," Matt replied, his voice slightly muffled as he talked with as much of his face towards the carpet as his rather long nose would allow.   
"I hate to break it to ya, but we kind of have other stuff to do today, so the "few hours" option is out. A few minutes is probably still possible though."  
Matt didn't reply for a second, just remaining on the ground, desperately trying to slow his heart rate a little. "Ugh, it's so hot," He finally groaned.  
"That's summer for you, after all it is almost July."  
"What?" Matt asked bolting upright, "Are you serious, July already? I am so sure June just began like last week."  
"Nah, Steph's right," Jason echoed from his corner, "it's the 20th today."  
"WHAT?!?!" There was obviously some residual scream left in him from the stream.  
"See, Jason confirms, it must be true," Steph shrugged.  
"Then again, I would hardly call the 20th "almost July", more like vaguely almost July," Jason added before returning to furiously typing something into the keyboard.   
"That's true, there's still over a full week of June left," the master theorist considered. "But oh my gosh this game! I hope there are only two chapters left because man, I do not think I can handle much more of this."  
"The whole time I was torn between laughing at you and just wanting to give you a big hug," Steph admitted, smiling cheekily as usual.  
"Well, feel free to take over at any time."  
"No-ooo thank you. I don't normally play the games and I am not going to start doing so during a VR Horror Game. I'll leave it up to you."  
"Gee, thanks Steph. You're such a supportive partner," Matt replied sarcastically.   
"Hey, my post-stream hugs are very supportive, not to mention all the well wishes I pass on from the chat during the game!"  
""RIP MatPat" is not exactly supportive."  
"It's encouragement to prove them wrong."  
"Hmmm, not sure it works that way when I'm already curled up in a screaming ball on the floor."  
"Yeah, and by getting up and carrying on you prove them wrong. Besides, I love your girlish screaming, it's quite entertaining. But if you really need a hug, here," Steph said, pulling Matt into a tight embrace where they sat on the floor. The warmth of Steph's body and her pleasant scent of tea and floral perfume helped Matt get control of his breathing for a moment and he closed his eyes to relax into the moment.  
Skip decided to choose that exact moment to jump onto the table and knock over a bunch of empty cans, making a horrible clash and scaring everyone except for Jason, who had seen the whole thing unfold. Matt flew backwards, and it was any wonder he didn't put a dent in one of the walls, but luckily it turns out the sound proofing has more than one use.   
"Oh Matthew," Steph giggled, moving over to be by his side in his new position.   
"Don't "Oh Matthew" me, that was scary! Even you jumped!" Matt accused.  
Steph gasped in mock horror, "Matthew, are you suggesting I would lie to you about being scared?"  
"Yep."  
"Well… you might occasionally be right," Stephanie conceded. She leaned into Matt's chest, his arms wrapped around her and she heard his heart beating fast and strong, almost as if it was trying to break free.  
"That was a pretty scary game today," Steph said honestly, "I'm proud of you for getting through it."  
"Aw, thanks Steph."  
"You're welcome Matthew," they smiled at each other, but a demanding "meow" interrupted their moment.   
"Hey Skee-ip!" Matt said in his special baby-talk voice.   
"Meow!" Skip commanded, staring at the couple.  
"Is it dinner time? Is that what you're complaining about?" Steph joined the baby talk conversation. Skip trotted across towards the door, meowing once or twice on the way.  
"It's my turn today, isn't it?" Matt sighed.  
"Don't worry about it, you've been through enough for today. Let me get it," Steph said, groaning as she slowly stood up, stretching gently as she rose.  
Steph left down the hall with CatPat, and Matt couldn’t hold back a slight smile as he heard the two of them "chatting" away.   
"So I'm guessing the grin is a good sign of recovery?" Jason interrupted the silence, startling Matt.  
"I'm not so sure Jason. The real test is when the sun goes down and night sets in. That's when the nightmares begin."  
"Aren't nightmares just in your sle-"  
"Don't ruin my metaphor Jason, just accept it and let it happen."   
"Whatever you say Matt," Jason said, chuckling softly before looking back at the computer screen, "Wait, is it 6 o'clock already? I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to get home, sorry."  
"Aw, going so soon?" Matt pouted. "Nah, I get it; go home you tech genius you."  
"Wow, did I actually just get a compliment?" Jason asked in mock shock.  
"Of course Jason, today's livestream was hard work, especially the tech side. Just don't get used to it, alright? We're still gonna be using #blamejason on a daily basis."  
Jason laughed, "Cya tomorrow Matthew."  
"You too, take care."  
"I will, try to get some sleep, alright?"  
"Try is the operative word there Jason, try is the operative word."  
Jason's footsteps could be heard echoing down the hall, and Matthew heard him and Stephanie exchange goodbyes, and then the room fell into a silence.   
With nothing but his thoughts, Matthew was left in a dangerous place for someone who had just played a VR horror game, particularly someone with his creative imagination. For a second he swore he could hear carnival music coming from the hall, but when he moved slightly, it stopped. He looked cautiously at the TV, waiting for it to suddenly power on with either static or some horrifying image on the screen. Or maybe both.   
Suddenly the shadows in the corners of the room looked more menacing, as if all kind of spoopy creatures were hiding there, just waiting to jump out and slit his throat.  
Matt was deep in imagining the gruesome and terrifying ways he might die when suddenly the window not far from above his head creaked and began to slowly swing open. He quickly jumped up and slammed it shut, holding it there for a good few seconds first; after all, if playing and making theories on horror games had taught him anything, it was always shut the door/window longer than seems necessary.   
Outside the wind picked up, causing the window to make a faint ghostly howl.   
'Be brave, be a man, don't squeal around Stephanie' MatPat repeated the mantra over and over in his head. He flicked the latches on the window and prayed that would hold them shut. Then he heard the faint echo of footsteps down the hall. Or was he imagining them? And who's footsteps were they? A murderer? A vengeful victim? A creepy small child? A dead small child who was a vengeful and creep murderer?  
Matt held his breath, waiting for his doom, hearing the footsteps draw closer. Then his answer came as he heard humming. A female voice was absentmindedly doing a poor male voice impression, softly singing what Matthew believed was "If I Were a Rich Man" from Fiddler on the Roof. With a sigh a relief Matt realized it was just Steph returning from feeding CatPat.  
But that didn't stop him from jumping when she appeared in the doorway.   
"Oh wowzers, you really are jumpy, huh?" Steph said with a soft, yet caring, laugh.   
"VR horror games clearly are not a good idea for me," he agreed.  
"Tonight's going to be fun, isn't it?" She sighed before changing the topic, "I've turned on every light in the house as per request, so I think it's time you had a shower, StankPat."  
"Hey!"  
"Don't worry Matthew, I'll watch the door to make sure it doesn't turn into a scene from Psycho," she teased.  
He groaned, "Why did you remind me of that movie?"  
"Because I'm evil, hehehe" Steph said in a hilariously non-scary voice.  
"Then can we make dinner?"  
"You know it! Tacos tonight?"  
"Yes please," he agreed. Perhaps the night could still be salvaged.

As promised Steph stood guard while Matt showered, and it was surprisingly okay. He distracted himself with musical theatre tunes, and Stephanie often chimed in from through the door.   
Then later, while making tacos, the bad puns involving Matthew stealing Stephanie's nacho cheese managed to get his mind off of scary swan boats and they were kept away for the rest of the evening, as they curled up on the couch to watch Wreck-It Ralph (with the lights still on, of course).  
"You know, this could actually make an interesting theory."  
"On what? The likelihood that arcade games are sentient and have lives outside of opening hours?" Steph asked sarcastically.  
"I meant maybe more about coding or something. Like how possible is it for a program to 'go Turbo'?"  
"Huh, you might be onto something there. I'll write it down," Steph said, pulling out the document on her laptop that contained all the theory ideas they had come up with. "Wait, so technically this would be a Film Theory about gaming or a Game Theory about a film?"  
"Um… we’ll figure it out as we go along, but one of those two, I guess?"   
"That would be sooo crazy... I love it!"  
"Let's see if there's actually a theory there first."  
"You're right, I get too attached to some theories…"  
"Hey, let's focus of the movie, I love this montage," Matt refocused their attention before promptly breaking out into a comically bad set of dance moves while attempting to sing along with the song "Shut Up and Drive".   
"I'm still not sure how this song made it into a kids movie…"  
"Me neither Steph, me neither" and they burst into giggles, dancing and singing in a horrible and purposefully cheesy way until the song ended.

"It's getting late Matt," Steph called from across the room. He glanced at the time on his laptop, 11:30pm already? He had gotten lost down the research hole while looking into the Wreck-It Ralph theory.   
"I'm almost done, just give me a second!" He replied, saving a few more links before shutting down his laptop for the night.   
"One Mississippi…" she began to count.  
"I didn't mean that literally and you know it."  
"And you know I love to tease you."  
"Oh boy, do I know that one. Come here you!" Matt said, carefully throwing his laptop onto the couch and jumping up to chase down his wife, capturing her in a tight embrace, her brown hair covering his face.   
"Let me go!" She complained, struggling against him.  
"Never!" He jokingly declared, picked her up at the waist and swinging her around gently.  
"Be careful!" Steph tried to say through her laughter, "Put me down!"  
"Nope, you're mine now," Matt said, getting a firmer grip on Steph before beginning to walk through the house.   
"Put me down! I still have to put away the dishes," she protested through her giggles, but he kept moving, eventually ending up in the bedroom upstairs. She landed on the bed with a bounce, still laughing, "Oh Matthew, I didn't know being scared out of your wits put you into this kind of mood."  
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Steph," he replied, rolling his eyes.   
"Hey, I'm only going on what's happening."  
"More like what you wish was happening."  
"Hey, we're married, so it's not unrealistic."  
"After today's stream it kinda is."  
"Fair point. I guess I should put those dishes away and then get ready for bed," Stephanie said, sitting up with a slight stretch and climbing off of the bed.   
Ten minutes later, Matt was in his pajamas and waiting for Steph to finish braiding her hair.  
"Done," she exclaimed, joining him in bed.   
"Lovely job, as usual," Matthew complimented with a slight 'British' accent.   
"Why thank you," Steph replied comically, before suddenly shifting to a more serious tone, "if you have any nightmares or can't sleep, let me know, okay? I'm here for you."  
"You know I will."  
"Just wanted to make sure. But I guess your girlish screams are a bit hard to miss."  
"Excuse you, I have a very manly scream."  
"Whatever you say buddy."  
"I love you."  
"I love you too."  
"Goodnight."  
"Sleep tight."  
"And don't let the evil swan boats bite."  
And with that, Steph turned out the last remaining bedside lamp, and the room plunged into darkness.

11:56pm the clock read. He was nowhere near getting to sleep. Stephanie had fallen asleep almost the minute her head hit the pillow. She had been feeling pretty tired lately, so he had decided to let her get some rest.  
The shadows started moving in his mind, and conspiratory whispers echoed down the corridor.   
Hoping to forget the trauma, he grabbed his phone, plugged in headphones and started listening to a musical theatre playlist. Unhelpfully, Sweeney Todd had decided to play. Not a good start, but Popular from Wicked definitely distracted him again (no he did not have little moves that went along with the lyrics, which he most certainly did not know off by heart). A few songs later he had almost calmed down, and was beginning to feel his eyelids getting heavy. Breathing steady and deep breaths, he closed his eyes…  
Suddenly the sound of an incredibly loud organ filled his ears, startling Matt awake. Then the rock band joined in followed by the rest of the orchestra.   
'Damn you, Phantom of the Opera Overture,' Matt thought, unlocking his phone to change the song. He flicked through the playlist until he found another section of good songs and clicked on the first, the music started, and then the screen went black and it stopped. Out of charge. Whelp. No musical theatre for ScardyPat.   
But now he had the Phantom of the Opera stuck in his head. Which really didn't help the lingering feelings of dread from the livestream. So instead he lay awake, shifting around to try to get comfortable without waking Steph, the same tune playing over and over inside his mind. 

1:24am. Stephanie groaned as she woke up, aware in her waking grogginess that something wasn't right.   
"Matthew?" She asked softly in a croaky voice, rolling over to see if he had managed to get to sleep. But no one was there.   
Instantly worried awake, she shot up before quickly regretting moving so fast so soon after waking. She looked around, wondering where he could have gone, listening for an aural clue. Not hearing anything, she decided to go investigate, shuffling to the edge of the bed and out of the room. She carefully descended the stairs, wondering if maybe he had gone to get a snack or a late night diet coke for comfort. But no one was in the kitchen, or anywhere downstairs for that matter.  
Having checked the lower floor, Steph returned upstairs, wondering why she ever got out of bed when Matthew clearly didn't want to be found.   
She checked a few other rooms before finally deciding to head back to bed, since one of them ought to get some sleep. But just before she climbed back under the sheets, she noticed a faint glow coming from within the closet, or "Matthew's recording studio" as it had been fondly dubbed. Approaching carefully, as if she was now in a horror game, Steph crept towards the closet. Then, like ripping off a bandaid, she threw back the door, startling the brown hair man-child who had been curled up on the floor inside, playing some sort of tile matching game on his laptop. He shrieked like a girl, and Steph quickly tried to ease his panic, "hey, hey, it's just me."  
"Oh thank goodness it's just you Steph," Matt sighed, "please never scare me like that again."  
"No promises Matthew," Steph grinned, sitting down next to her husband. "So, whatcha doin’?"  
"Waiting for the sleepiness to set in."  
"By looking at a screen?"  
"Don't judge my life choices."  
"Thank goodness it's the weekend now, so you don't have to worry about live streaming tomorrow."  
"Oh boy, I would not want to be streaming with this little sleep."  
"Hey Matthew."  
"Yes Stephanie?"  
"Do you wanna build a pillow fort?" She sang to a familiar tune.  
"Only if you get the pillows, because I am not leaving the safety closet."  
"Okay ScardeyPat, you stay cowering in here, I'll be back soon."  
About 5 minutes later - although it felt like hours to Matt - Stephanie returned with a huge pile of pillows and cushions, all stacked atop a pile of around 3 blankets, which she had been dragging along behind her. And then she ran back out into the hall to return with four chairs from their dining table to ensure structural integrity.  
"Woah," he wasn't really sure what else to say about her impressive ability to collect the pillow fort essentials.   
"So, are you ready to build the best pillow fort in the history of the Patricks?" She asked, that mischievous glint Matthew both loved and was occasionally afraid of dancing in her eyes.   
"H-e-double hockey sticks yeah, you bet I am!"  
"Let's not wait any longer then!"  
They then proceeded to argue over the most strategic chair placement strategy for at least 2 minutes.   
Finally it was decided one in each corner, but a little bit in from the wall, was the best idea (a compromise, but Steph still liked to think she'd won). Having set up the chairs and draped the largest sheet Steph could find overhead, the pillowing began. Inside, outside, floor, walls, pillows and cushions (and a few blankets) from all over the house covered the closet, creating a small yet incredibly stable and comfortable fortress. The whole thing took over half an hour to complete, and involved a lot of near-swearing, several really terrible puns and two cans of Diet Coke.   
Sat inside their little castle, the King and Queen of Closettia admired their handy work.   
"So, what's next, King Matthew?"  
"Whatever we desire, my Queen," he replied with as much of a bow as he could give from a sitting position.   
"I don't think Kings bowed to their Queens."  
"Creative license is a wonderful thing, Steph."  
*Ahem*  
"My apologies, Queen Stephanie."  
She giggled, "I was just kidding, but thank you regardless. And I know just the thing to scare off any nightmares."  
She snatched the laptop from Matthew's lap, quickly pulling up YouTube and navigating to a familiar page. She scrolled down, scouring it for a particular video. Ensuring the volume was on, she found what she wanted and clicked on the link. Immediately their voices played over the laptop speakers, and they both cringed slightly, Matt's expression quickly growing to one of horror as he realised what stream Steph had decided to dig out of Archiveland.   
"I will get to flex my old school dance training, right?" He cringed as on-screen MatPat spoke, and if that hadn't given away the stream, his lime green T-shirt from his high school show choir certainly confirmed it. The Just Dance stream.   
"Stephanie!" Real Matthew exclaimed in a higher than usual register.   
"Come on, you've gotta laugh at this one," she replied, already stifling laughter herself.   
"No I do not! It's so embarrassing! I can't believe we thought this was a good idea."  
"Whatever GrumpPat, do you want to watch something else then?"   
"No, we're here now," he sighed, "once more into the breach."  
So the next half an hour was spent laughing at their past selves' expense, realising just how awkward and entertaining it was to watch them attempt to re-enact the on screen dance moves. At one point the door of the closet slid open, making Matt nearly disassemble the pillow fort with his startled jump, but a soft, questioning meow soon confirmed it was just Skip wanting some attention.   
As they watched themselves vigorously dancing to Lady Gaga's "Applause" they felt the onset of sleep weighing down their eyelids.  
"We should really do this again sometime soon," Stephanie suggested with a yawn, curling up with Matthew in their little nest of pillows and blankets.   
"Yeah, we really should," He agreed sleepily, enjoying the feeling of her by his side, her left arm wrapped across his chest. "Thank you, Stephanie. I love you."  
"I love you too," she murmured in reply, and the last thing she felt before drifting off to sleep was Matthew's lips gently kissing her forehead. 

5:36am.  
He woke with a startle.   
A pillow from the fort wall had fallen on his leg with such perfect timing as his dreams he had thought he really was being dragged down a hallway by a shadowy demon-child.  
Luckily he hadn't woken Stephanie, although she had always been pretty good at sleeping through anything, but his pajamas were now soaked with sweat. Gross.  
He debated taking a shower for all of one second before deciding against it and instead just pulling out a fresh t-shirt and pants from within the safety of Closettia.   
He moved carefully, trying to make as little noise as possible in order to not disturb his wife, who was still sleeping soundly curled up in a ball like a cat. Speaking of, CatPat was also dozing in a corner of the pillow fort, purring softly.   
Suddenly, looking around at the recording closet, his cat, and most importantly his wife, and thinking about his YouTube channel and Theorist family, he was overwhelmed with a sense of contentedness. He had so much love in his life, and while sometimes trolls left him feeling worthless, there were always hundreds of thousands of messages of positivity coming from the rest of the Theorists and that kept him going. Even if it meant suffering through horror VR games, torturous Mario Maker levels or embarrassing himself with dorky dancing, he truly loved GTLive and all the goofy shenanigans it had gotten him into, because it meant he got to give something back to everyone who kept him going.  
He lay back down and snuggled up to Steph, pushing away any negative thoughts with the happiness that welled inside him and he finally drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

9:35am  
Stephanie groaned, regretting sleeping on a pile of pillows in their closet already. Small rays of morning light filtered in from around the edge of the door, which she sleepily noted was slightly ajar. She sleepily rubbed her eyes looking around the dimly lit pillow fort and saw Matthew still sleeping soundly by her side. She realized he had changed his pajamas, presumably from feeling "gross" after a particularly intense nightmare, and she was slightly disappointed he hadn't woken her. She carefully sat up, her back cracking as she stretched, her fingertips brushing the sheet canopy overhead.  
CatPat must have left sometime earlier in the morning, probably to see if he could find any leftover food anywhere, as she couldn't see any trace of the little rascal.   
As her eyes adjusted to the light she began to look around more, finally resting her gaze on the sleeping form of her husband. He looked so cute, curled up tightly, one hand tucked under his chin, the other reaching out in Stephanie's general direction. His slow, rhythmic breathing was incredibly calming, and if she looked hard enough Steph could even see a sparse layer of stubble smattered across his chin and jawline. After all, even though he joked about looking like a prepubescent boy, underneath it all he was a man.   
He stirred lightly, making an adorable little noise. For a moment she was worried her intense staring had been enough to wake him, but luckily it didn't seem like it.   
For a moment she contemplated heading downstairs and making breakfast for them as a nice surprise, but then realized that she didn't want Matthew to wake up alone and freak out. Also he had never been much of a breakfast man anyway. So instead she decided to open up Matt's laptop and scroll through the GTLive hashtag.   
She had just found a really good piece of fanart when she again heard a little sleepy groan from beside her. This time he opened his eyes, squinting at the light from the laptop.   
"Stephanie?" he asked sleepily.  
"Good morning Matthew," she chirped with a smile.  
"Ugh, what's the time," he groaned.  
"According to the laptop, it's almost 10."  
"Why am I feeling like such a shleepy otter, I have so much to do today."  
"Looks like someone's waking up with a diet coke."  
"You know me so well."  
"Of course I do, it's my job as your best friend to know you better than you know yourself."  
The conversation lulled into a natural silence and they both sat/lay there enjoying the quiet. The peace filled the air with understanding and love. They both thought that they could stay there together forever.   
But life must go on, as a meow from the door reminded them.   
"We should do this more often," Mat said.  
"What, you playing a VR horror game that scares you so much that you have to hide in the closet in order to sleep?"  
"I was more referring to building and sleeping in a pillow fort."  
Stephanie giggled, "I just had to tease you. Although you might change your mind when you sit up."  
"Why?" He asked while propping himself up off the floor, "wait, never mind. Urgh, what did I sleep on, a rock?"  
"Well, we didn't exactly do the best job at moving everything out of the way before setting up the fort, so possibly."  
There was another louder meow from nearby, and suddenly they had another member of the Patrick family in their fort.   
"Hey Skip!" Mat said, but the voice he used made it sound more like "Hey Skee-ip!"  
"Aw, hey buddy," Steph said, scratching behind his ears as he stood in front of her. "Are you a hungry little CatPat?"  
Skip meowed loudly in reply.   
"I guess that's a yes," Steph smiled, "want me to get you anything while I'm down there?"  
"No I'll be there in a minute," he replied, smiling as he thought he couldn't believe how lucky he'd been to be able to marry Stephanie, the woman of his dreams.   
"Alright, love you!" She said, crawling out of their fort in the closet.  
"Love you too!" He called after her.   
He sighed and ruffled his hair, trying to brush it back into the normal hair-wall style. His lower back ached dully from his regrettable sleeping arrangement, and he was probably going to be having a few more nightmares this week, but for all the terror that he had been exposed to over the last 24 hours, it had still somehow worked out to be a good memory. I guess it just showed that with Stephanie by his side, they could turn anything into a good time. And for that amongst many other things, he would be forever grateful that they were husband and wife, best friends forever, and they would never ever leave each other.

 

A/N:  
Hello Reader!  
My (online) name is Lark Sweetsong, and I just wanted to say thank. for reading the first story of my little one shot collection I’m hoping to build. If you’ve read my other story, a minecraft based story titled Secrets of the Past and are angry at me for posting this rather than another chapter: Chill, it’ll happen soon, it’s just there's a tonne of stuff has being going on irl. If you haven’t read that, you can check it out if it sounds like something that would interest you or just keep to this one, whatever makes you happy.  
Anyway, so I’m going to try to keep these one shots fairly mild, so don’t come here expecting anything smutty. Also, I would love suggestions from you guys, but I also have a fair few ideas of my own for one shots. Additionally, this will be focusing on the relationship between Matthew and Stephanie, so if you are looking for NatePat or MarkPat or any other variation, then there are plenty of those stories out there for you to read, but I’m afraid this isn’t one of them.  
I’m also contemplating writing a longer style fanfiction about the Game Theorists, so if you have any ideas for a plot, let me know!  
I think that’s about it for now, so have an awesome rest of your day! Please don’t be afraid to leave a comment giving me feedback or just saying hi, and I’ll see you in the next chapter,  
~Lark~


	2. Essential Christmas Apparel

Story 2: Essential Christmas Apparel

"Now remember Matthew, we only have an hour before we need to go or else we'll be late for the livestream and we don’t need a repeat of Tuesday," Stephanie instructed as they headed towards the mall. Already festive decorations could be seen hanging off of every possible surface and Christmas carols echoed from within the building. "Although really it's more like 45 minutes now thanks to it taking forever to find a park."  
"Gotta love those holiday carpark problems," Matthew replied in a sarcastically cheerful tone.  
"Now repeat after me: I do not need any more structured outerwear."  
"I do not need any more structured outerwear."  
"I am here on a mission and I will not be distracted."  
He rolled his eyes, but played along, "I am here on a mission and I will not be distracted."  
"Good, and what exactly is that mission?" She asked as they entered into the mall, feeling the warm air engulf them, melting off the cold that had seeped through their clothes on the journey through the carpark.   
"To find the ugliest Christmas sweater sold within these stores," Matt answered, smiling at the thought of finding a sweater that would outshine Steph's. That was probably an unrealistic expectation, but hey, almost anything would be a step up from last year.  
"Bingo! We can't have a repeat of the borderline-bondage Christmas sweater catastrophe that you wore last year," she said almost as if she could read his mind.  
"That is very true Steph," he sighed and began to laugh at the memory of his 'sweater' "Oh dear, oh that was truly unfortunate."  
"It wasn't even an ugly sweater, it was just a - wait, was it even a sweater?"  
His laughter intensified, "I don't think it was. It was just a red shirt I had lying around!" His laughter rang through the hallway, and although slightly embarrassed by her husband's incredibly loud laugh, she couldn't suppress the smile that crept over her lips.  
"Come on GigglyPat, our first stop's right over here," she sighed, pulling him along by the hand.   
The first shop was as successful as most are on shopping trips: remarkably unsuccessful. They scoured through the entire men's department (and some of the women's section too), and at one point Stephanie had to pry Matt off of a navy leather jacket he began to take a shine to, but as far as a Christmas sweater went there was nothing.   
"I told you we should just buy it online," he complained as they exited the first store.  
"One, we've barely begun looking. Two, shopping online for an ugly sweater takes away all the fun. And three, maybe we could've shopped online if someone hadn't left it to the last minute."  
"Who would leave something so important to the last minute?" Matthew replied innocently, before sliding into his 'conspiracy' voice, "Wait, I know exactly who to blame: Jason! #BlameJason"  
"Really Matthew?"  
"This just in, Jason to blame behind lack of cringey festive sweaters!" He said in his best old-fashioned reporter impression. "30 points from house Jasonclaw!"  
"Oh my gosh, stop being such a drama queen. Come on, we still have another 4 shops to check out." So the couple walked off in the direction of the next store on the list, hand in hand, laughing all the way.

"Why do kids get all the good festive clothes?!" Matt exclaimed as they passed the children's section on the way out on the fourth store on their list. So far each had been just as successful as the previous one, and the best it looked like they could do from those stores is get Matthew a plain red or green sweater, so at least he'll actually be wearing a sweater this year.   
Stephanie sighed looking at the miniature clothes covered in elf patterns and claiming their owner to be on Santa's nice list. "I don't know, but kids certainly do have better fashion choices available," she paused to look at a tiny onesie, clearly meant for a newborn, that over the top of its bold green and red pattern clearly read "Baby's first Christmas" in a gold script. "Aw Matthew, look how cute this is! It's so tiny!"  
"Who was it that was going on about focus earlier today?"  
"I know, I know. It's just so small!" She pouted.  
"We only have 15 minutes left!"  
"And only one shop. Can't I catch my breath for a moment if I feel the need to?"  
"So much for no distractions…"  
"Hey!" She said, gently slapping his arm, "just because I spent 10 seconds looking at kids clothes, doesn't mean you can reprimand me for getting distracted!"  
"I dunno, 10 seconds is definitely in distracted territory."  
She rolled her eyes, knowing he's too stubborn to let her win this round. "Whatever you say buddy."  
Matthew gasped, a hand flying dramatically to his chest, "Did you just sass me, young missy? Oh! I am most offended, consider my feelings thoroughly hurt." He pretended to dry tears from the corners of his eyes.  
"Alright Mr Distraction, time is a' tickin', so let's get going."  
"Since when am I the distraction?" Matthew asked as they exited the store back into the bustling holiday crowds   
"Do you want to be in the Christmas lights and red shirt combo again?"   
"No! And that's why we're here! To find a dorky Christmas sweater for me! But you keep interrupting and then blaming me!" His voice rising in pitch, but he desperately tried to keep the volume in check, seeing as they were out in public.  
"Well then, cut the arguing and let's go!"  
"I didn't even-"  
Steph stopped him dead in his tracks, giving him a deadly gaze that clearly meant "Shut. Up."  
Fearing the consequences, he bit his tongue and they maneuvered through the hectic crowd towards their final destination.   
"Serious question: Why is it that stores never have what you’re looking for when you need it, but like two weeks later there it is?" Matthew asked, ending the extended silence between the two.   
For a moment, Steph said nothing, causing panic to rise in her partner. Then - having waited just long enough to make him worry he had angered her - she replied, "I'm not entirely sure, but I've heard that some blame a man named Jason."  
"Ah yes, of course." Satisfied that at least his wife wasn't angry, he tentatively brushed his hand against hers, and almost instantly she responded by intertwining her fingers between his. He remembered the first time they had held hands back in college and the way their hands fit together was so perfect it had startled him.   
They weaved their way through the holiday crowds, both of their introverted sides protesting internally, but sacrifices had to be made for the greater festive good!  
The same generic Christmas music that seemed to play every year could barely be heard above the rabble of the shoppers, but somehow Matthew still managed to hum along to the tunes.  
'One last store, 13 minutes,' Matthew said to himself. 'If I can beat FNAF SL Golden Freddy night on hard mode, I can find a gosh darn Christmas sweater!'

~8 minutes later~  
"Why do I have the worst luck?!" Matthew exclaimed through gritted teeth as they exited the last store on their list empty handed.   
"Maybe it's payback for all the weird suits you insist on keeping, despite knowing you're never going to wear a lime green suit ever again."  
"Oh, that's just what you think. One day, maybe on GTLive even, the lime suit will make its glorious return!" He proclaimed. "Besides, until then it's helping dampen sound in the recording closet."  
"Oh geez, please never wear that on a livestream!" Steph grimaced at the mental image.  
"I make no promises," he replied with a wink.  
"Oh my gosh. Anyway, back on task, we should see if we can get that theorist green sweater you saw in Macy's and then we need to go."  
"Ugh."  
"I told you to order one online earlier this month, don't cry to me," She said in a matter-of-fact tone.  
"Wait, is that store new?"  
"Where?"  
"Just over there!" Matt exclaimed, pointing fervently.  
"What are you pointing at?"   
"The new store!" The pitch of his voice rose with his annoyance.  
"What are you talking about? I don't see a new store!" Stephanie replied, giggling slightly at how worked up Matthew was getting.  
"Really, Steph? Do you really think I'm falling for that?" His voice had dropped, and he rolled his eyes, unimpressed with his wife's antics.  
"What?" She asked innocently, laughing slightly as she spoke, "I don't know what you're going on about."  
"Stephanie I know your vision isn’t perfect but you aren't that blind. The store is right there nestled between Forever 21 and Game Stop."  
"Oh, that geeky store that's been there for like 6 months now? Sorry I thought you were pointing out a new store."  
"Wow, someone's sassy today, and we haven't even started GTLive yet."  
"Yeah, you'd better watch out. I'm super sassy," she flicked her hair, almost accidentally hair-slapping a man who had walked behind her at an unfortunate time.  
"Sassy pants aside, look in the window!"   
There it was, in all its glory.   
A Mario Christmas sweater.   
"Now, what was that about having the worst of luck?" Stephanie asked with a cheeky grin.  
"Well, if your luck is the worst it can only get better, which is what we're experiencing today. Finally, a good Christmas sweater! It's even in film theory red and game theory green, and it has everyone on there! Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Bowser, BJ, Yoshi, Toad; wow, they're really trying to squeeze everyone on there."  
"Although obviously they haven't seen Game Theory as they still think the couples are Peach and Mario, and Luigi and Daisy," Steph added. "Luigi and Peach must be mad that their daughter didn’t make it onto the design."  
"Well, she isn't very Christmas-y in design whereas everyone else can kind of be put into the ol’ green, red, white and yellow Christmas colour scheme," Matthew said as they stepped out of the bustling crowd and into the slightly smaller crowd that almost filled the store. They made a beeline for the back wall where rack upon rack of clothing could easily be spotted from anywhere in the shop. Luckily, they had a special Christmas apparel section, so it wasn't too hard to find the knitted sweater from the window. Upon finding one in his size, Matt snatched it off the rack, holding it to his chest possessively.   
Together they attempted to wade through the cramped room to the register, Matthew clutching the sweater to his chest the entire time. Finally making it through, they quickly purchased the sweater, glad that by some miracle no one had recognized them. Glancing at her watch, Steph noticed they should already be on their way home. So she pulled a begrudging Matthew away from the crate of socks he had discovered and they charged their way through the mall as quickly as possible for two fairly unfit nerds trying to get through the masses of holiday season shoppers.   
"It's experiences like that which make me question how anyone can call it "the most wonderful time of the year"," Stephanie said letting out a sigh as they climbed into the car, already running 5 minutes late according to her plan of when they had to leave the mall. Obviously, Matthew insisted on Christmas carols being played all the way home.

 

"There you are, I was beginning to worry the chat would go crazy," Jason said as they sprinted inside and upstairs to the livestream room. Chris was there too, after all it was Christmas week on GTLive, but he seemed less stressed about them running late, since at least he wouldn't be blamed if the stream was late or had technical difficulties.  
"Sorry Jason, but Christmas sweaters are super hard to find," Steph apologized, smoothing her hair as she opened up her laptop and created the necessary tabs.   
"Like really though, you'd think that an ugly Christmas sweater would be easier to find at this time of year, but no. Apparently not," Matthew grumbled as he changed into his new sweater in the unused corner of the room. "But hey, this one is pretty cool, so I can't really complain too much."  
Stephanie in the meanwhile had put on her own Christmas cardigan, which was incredibly garish.   
"So tell me, what are we playing today Jason?"  
"Well, it's a game you all know and hate."  
"And we have four Wii controllers ready for a GTLive house tournament," Chris added as Jason pulled out a familiar case.   
Mario Party 10.  
"You guys know Matthew always wins, why would you choose this game?" Stephanie complained. "Like, you know HufflePat is winning today, right?"  
"Eh, even if I won I would've had points taken away," Jason shrugged, and Chris waved his hand in a gesture with a similar nonchalant sentiment.  
"Nice nail polish Chris, very Christmas-y" Stephanie said, noting his festive red nails.  
"They match my house colours too," he said proudly.  
Matthew interrupted the fashion talk, "ladies, as much as I love the nails, we do have a livestream to get organized, so unfortunately we've gotta move on."

14 minutes later and 6 minutes late according to the spam of the chat they had managed to get organized. As the GTLive theme finished, Jason cued them to start the intro segment   
"Hey guys, and welcome to a very festive GTLive!"  
"Very festive indeed, and today we're having a Christmas Party!”   
"But this isn’t just any old Christmas Party, oh no, as we are playing none other than the notorious friendship breaker: Mario Party 10."  
"Because what says Christmas like arguing with your nearest and dearest?"  
"Now, of course just Steph and I could play, but that's no fun. And everyone is super busy at Christmas so instead of a special guest we’re going to have to settle with a GTLive house cup showdown between Stepherin, Chrisindor, Jasonclaw and HufflePat."  
"Obviously, Matthew is cheating in this tournament since he has a natural uncanny ability at Mario Party, as we have previously discovered, but there can be miracles when you believe."  
"Hey, natural talent is not cheating."  
"It so is!"  
"Is not. Anyway, so today Chris and Jason will be playing along when they are not manning their respective technical equipment. Also, can we note how relevant my sweater is to this stream?"  
“I know, the telepathic communication was strong when you chose this game Jason!” Stephanie complimented, “Also, the chat has been admiring your sweater, so they noticed alright.”  
“Aw thanks you guys!”  
“Speaking of, the chat is just over here and you can interact with it by typing in that little blank box right there. Today the sound of the chat is a 50/50 split of Merry Christmas and stab and a half.”  
“Stab and a half?”  
“Yeah, because we’re all friends and we’re probably going to stab each other in the back a few times today.”  
“Really Stephanie?”  
“I thought it was clever. Anyway, you can also send us pictures of your ugly Christmas clothing, sweater or otherwise, over on the Twits using the GTLive hashtag!”  
“Chris if you’re all framed up come join us on the couch.”  
“Oh my gosh, it’s the Chris face reveal! You’ll finally see who’s lurking behind the camera.”  
The rest of the livestream continued just like any other, only with more inside jokes and point deductions than usual. Matthew, as expected, won, however Chris surprisingly came in a close second which had had Matt worried for a while there. Naturally Jason came last, much to Stephanie’s relief. All in all, it was a good stream and when he lay in bed that night, Matthew thought that - all jokes aside - he was truly blessed to have each of those three people in his life, especially the beautiful woman he got to call his wife.

 

A/N:  
Hello everyone!  
Merry Christmas/ Happy Holidays!  
I hope you are having a lovely festive season and that you get to spend lots of time with family and loved ones, and that most importantly you get to eat some really good food!  
Hopefully once the festive season madness is over I might have more time to write and update this more frequently (sorry it’s taken so long!) That being said, if you have any suggestions of a one shot you’d like me to write, let me know! And who knows, I might already have it planned. Additionally, I was thinking about doing a whole bunch of tiny stories based on the “imagine your OTP” prompts next. I have a bunch of them saved, but let me know if you have any of those you’d like me to cover.  
I think that’s all I had to say, so I hope you guys have a good week, and a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it. If you liked this story please leave a vote and/or comment! Thank you so much for all your support on the last one shot, I really love hearing from you!  
And I will see you guys in the next chapter!  
~Lark


	3. Stephew OTP Prompts Round 1

A/N: Hello Internet, and welcome to Stephew OTP Prompts Round 1  
Normally I stick the A/N at the end, but since this chapter/segment/whatever you want to call this is going to be a bit different I thought I should just let you know what’s happening here. So I have collected SO MANY OTP prompts and imagines and now I have added Stephew and my own creative sprinkle to them to create this. I plan on this being the first of 4 chapter/segment things in this style. So there are 12 prompts/imagines covered in this chapter/segment covering a range of emotions and levels of AU-iness and some of them could probably be considered as full One Shots but I’m too stubborn to change my plans, so be warned this is LONG! Also the squiggly “~~~~~~~” are used to separate different prompts.   
So, if you are ready, strap yourselves in, buckle up and prepare for a rollercoaster of emotions!

~~~~~~~

"I'm not sure why I thought you helping was a good idea," Steph sighed as Matthew attempted to clean up the 1/2 cup of flour he had managed to spill all over the bench.  
"Come on Stephanie, you know baking cookies is way more interesting with me involved."  
"It sure is," she replied sarcastically.   
The cookie dough was finally mixed after what had been a slight disaster of a preparation process. They had eaten too many choc chips before weighing them to add to the mixture, causing an emergency trip to the local supermarket, then they realized that they would have to go again later as the recipe would use up all of their eggs, and finally Matthew had managed to spill a whole lot of flour while attempting to sift fancily.   
As much of a disaster as it had been, they were finally getting close to actually having cookies.  
"Okay, I think I got most of it," Matthew said, looking up at his wife for approval only to see her licking cookie dough off of her fingers. "Stephanie!"  
"Sorry! Sorry. I just really like raw cookie dough,” she said with a sheepish grin.  
"Yeah, well if you eat all of the dough we won't have any cookies!"  
"I'm fine with that to be honest. I'd rather eat the dough anyway," she replied with a shrug.  
"Hey! I would like some actual cookies, and I know that if I'm eating a cookie, you'll want one."  
She rolled her eyes but knew he was right, "Fine, I'll stop."  
"Good," he said with a nod before scanning the recipe for the next step. "It says that on the tray we need to put spoon sized scoops. Oh, and make sure they're far enough apart so they don't meld into one giant monster cookie."  
"Aye aye, Captain!" She said, joking pulling out a large salad server spoon. Matt raised an eyebrow at her, suppressing a giggle. Pretending to be saddened, Steph stored the large spoon, pulling out a far more normal sized spoon. "Better?"  
"Much better."   
And so they got down to work, ending up with around 20 cookies, although some went missing soon after leaving the oven.  
"There are so many, I totally could've eaten more of the dough!" Stephanie complained.   
Matthew held up one with a cheeky grin, "Consolation cookie?"   
She playfully hit his arm, but took the cookie anyway. He laughed and saw a hint of a smile creep across his wife's face. They may not be the best chef's, but no one can deny that they always have fun in the kitchen. 

~~~~~~~

It was late at night at Theorist HQ, but somehow the Patricks found themselves still awake, theorising side by side in their living room. Stephanie glanced at the time and attempted to stifle a yawn. After a brief stretch she saved her work and shut down the laptop. Tomorrow Jason would be over early to get some work done and test a few things out before the livestream. She had been sitting on a separate couch to Matthew, who was currently deep in the theorising zone, as she could tell from the slight wrinkling of his brow. She shifted over to the couch he was positioned on, having to lift up his legs to slide under at one end of the couch.   
"Hey honey, it's getting pretty late," she said softly, hating to break the peaceful silence that had filled the room. A few hours ago they had gotten ready for bed, as they usually did when they knew they would be up late theorising.   
"I'm almost done," Matt insisted, adjusting his glasses.  
"We have an early start tomorrow."  
"I know, I know. Just give me a second."  
Steph decided to study his nerdy Pokémon socks while she waited for his typing to cease.   
"And I'll just hit save… aaaand done!" He exclaimed and closed his laptop, plugging in the charging cord and placing it on the table.  
"We need to stop having so many late nights," Stephanie groaned as she struggled to keep her eyes open.  
"Since when did we become such geriatrics?"  
"Matthew, we enjoy shows like Murder She Wrote and Diagnosis Murder. We already were geriatrics," she replied sleepily, attempting to snuggle up to him on the couch. Matt moved to better accommodate her, and she buried her head into his shoulder, sighing deeply.   
"Hey Steph."  
"Yeah?"  
"I love you."  
"I love you too," she muttered as sleep began to take hold, causing her eyelids to become so heavy it was impossible to keep them up. Her legs were tangled between his and their arms wrapped around each other. It was one of the few places Stephanie truly felt safe and at home. Matthew still couldn't believe how lucky he had been to meet Stephanie, let alone to somehow manage to marry her. She made him happier than anything else in the world.   
As Stephanie drifted off to sleep, she heard Matt singing You Are My Sunshine in a soft voice, and the vibrations in his chest echoed through her.  
And just like that they fell asleep, practically on top of each other, limbs overlapping each other's like intricate lacework and filled with a deep contentedness. 

"Good morning you two."  
They awoke with a startle, both bolting upright, or at least trying to. Jason was grinning at them from the kitchen where he was pulling out the necessary ingredients to make coffee.   
"Jason, you scared me," Matt breathed a sigh of relief, his racing heart beginning to slow.  
"Jason!" Steph exclaimed in her disappointed Mum voice.   
"Well I'm sorry you two fall asleep in strange places in even stranger positions."  
Looking down they noticed the tangled mess their legs had somehow created. Only being able to imagine how their upper bodies were positioned, Stephanie blushed furiously as they tried to unwrap themselves from each other.   
"Ow ow ow!" Matt exclaimed.  
"What? What's wrong? Did I hurt you?" Stephanie asked, concern plastered on her face.  
"No," he whimpered through gritted teeth, "pins… and needles.. in my leg."  
"Sorry!"  
"I'll be fine, probably," he winced as he straightened the aforementioned leg. Jason chuckled in the background, earning a dirty look from Matthew.   
"Jason," Stephanie began to ask with a yawn, " what's the time?"  
"It's… nearly 9:30."  
"Oh geez! Matthew! We've slept so much time away, we were meant to have started on scripts by now!"  
"Take as much time as you want, that's fine by me," their friend joked. "I can tell you were up late last night."  
"I would like to point out that we are both fully clothed," Matt replied.  
"What are you implying I meant. I just thought you looked tired so I assumed you stayed up late," he said, but the cheeky twinkle in his eye said otherwise.  
"Sure Jason," Matthew replied sceptically.  
By this point Stephanie was strongly face palming at the boys' antics. Matt noticed and laughed, wrapping a comforting arm around her.   
"Okay, let's just forget about this a move on with the day," she said, trying to compose herself.   
"You're right Steph, it's late already, we'll save being goofballs for the live stream."  
"Please don't," she groaned, but from the looks sent across the room, her complaint had only ensured that they'd do something stupid.

~~~~~~~

Stephanie sat in her New York City apartment alone. Really it felt more like a matchbox, the place barely fitting in all the essential furniture. And to top it all off she could barely afford the place, especially while she was still studying.   
She looked down glumly into the bowl of two minute noodles that she attempted to pass as dinner.   
'Happy New Year, Stephanie,' She thought to herself. She could hear the noise from the thousands of parties happening all around the city, but she was never really the partying type. Plus, she was waiting for her boyfriend Matthew to call. She missed him so much, but being long distance was just a fact of showbiz, or at least it would be until he could land a slightly longer-term role here in NYC.  
In all those years at Duke she'd never realized how lucky she was to be able to have him around so often. Now her heart ached to hear his voice, to feel his embrace, to once again have his lips against hers. From the moment he asked her, "If you were forced to drink any condiment, which would you choose?" she had known their relationship was going to be special. Without him, she felt like a part of herself was missing.   
Steph was startled out of her thoughts by the sharp sound of her phone ringing. She flipped it open, seeing the name Matthew pop up on the screen, and clicked the green answer button.   
"Hello?"  
"Happy New Year Stephanie!" Matthew exclaimed, and she burst into a huge grin.  
"Happy New Year to you too!"   
"Man, I've missed your voice."  
"Just my voice?"  
He laughed, "No, but that's all of you I'm going to get for now."  
"Well, for what it's worth I've missed your voice too."  
"I miss you so much honey."  
"I wish you could be here for New Years. It was bad enough we couldn't have Christmas together," she sighed. There was a loud clang as someone dropped something one floor up from her and she jumped, almost dropping the phone.  
"What was that?"   
"Just upstairs dropping something, don't worry."   
"Oh, cool. Hey, I sent you something for tonight, did you get it yet?"  
"No, sorry. And I don't think they deliver at 10:30pm on New Year's Eve."  
"So much for the city that never sleeps," Matthew joked and she giggled.   
"I missed your laugh too," he said.  
"Naturally I miss your dolphin laughs. I mean, who wouldn't?"   
*BZZT* Her doorbell buzzed. She glanced cautiously at the door.  
The mail definitely wouldn't be delivered today, she hardly knew her neighbours, and most of them were also students so they were probably out partying.  
"Was that the door?" Matt asked.  
"Yeah. But I don’t know if I should answer, it's probably just a prank."  
"Why not check at least?"   
With a sigh she walked the small space between the kitchen table and the front door. Cautiously, with the chain lock still firmly in place she opened the door the tiniest fraction. There was no one she could see, but looking down at the floor she noticed a bouquet of red roses. The only problem was she would have to open the door to get them.   
She closed the door and put her phone back to her ear, "I peeked out the door and there was a bouquet of red roses on my doorstep. Did you send those?" She asked.  
Silence.   
"Matthew?" She asked, pulling the phone away to check her signal hadn't dropped out. "Matthew, are you there?"  
When he didn't reply, she figured she would hang up and wait for him to call back.   
Slipping her phone into her pocket she made her way back towards the door, curious about the mysterious flowers. She unlatched the chain, unlocked the door and slowly turned the knob. She didn't know why she was so nervous about opening the door. Probably because she had already imagined twenty different ways this could go horribly wrong. She really didn't want to open it just to find out it was a cruel prank or, even worse, that somebody other than Matthew had feelings for her and she was going to have to let the down.   
But, she was a firm believer in just getting things over with, so in one smooth motion she opened the door to see a familiar pair of brown eyes staring back at her. Also occupying the face was a huge grin, and a mop-like mess of brown hair spilled down all over the young man's face.  
Stephanie couldn't believe what she was seeing. Everything seemed to freeze as her brain overloaded with a series of overwhelmingly strong emotions. Joy, confusion, worry, love, stress, shock, surprise, bliss.   
"Looks like your wish came true," he smiled, and she couldn't hold back her grin as she pushed her disbelief aside. Matthew really was here! She flung her arms around his neck and snuggled into his chest and tried to suppress the joyful tears she could feel welling in her eyes.  
"How did you- But you were- I mean, weren't you?"  
He placed a finger over her lips, "I'm here now, and how I’m here doesn't really matter. But if you must know, the show is taking a break just for today and tomorrow, then it's back to it."  
"I've missed you so much."  
"I'll bet laundry Friday's are pretty sucky without me around," he joked and they both laughed.  
"I mean, there's also less laundry to do and none of your stinky underwear so it's not all bad," she teased in return.  
"Well are you going to let me in or are we going to stand in the doorway all night? Oh, and I brought you some flowers," he held out the bouquet of red roses. She noticed they were slightly damaged and wilting, which was probably the only way they could afford them at the moment. But the gesture meant far more than the item itself.  
Accepting the flowers, she stood to the side to let Matt in, "Oh sorry, of course! Come on in. I was just having a rather late dinner since I had to work late on a project at the lab."  
She considered trying to find something to put the flowers in, but they were going to wilt in the next 24 hours anyway and she didn't exactly have a vase lying around here. Matthew in the meanwhile had made himself comfortable on the two seater couch she had somehow fit into the tiny apartment.   
"Finally, I feel like I'm at home," he sighed.  
"I wouldn't exactly call this place home for long."  
"Any place you are is home to me."  
"Oh my gosh, that was so cheesy Matthew."  
"It may be cheesy, but it's true. And you know me, I'm just a big ol' wheel of chedder when it comes to clichés. Musicals will do that to you."

Just under an hour and a half later and they were sitting side by side on the couch, watching the live coverage of the Ball Drop in Times Square. Unfortunately, Stephanie wasn't close enough to have a good view of the fireworks from her apartment, so the television would have to do.   
"Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven!" Matthew excitedly cheered along with the TV, Stephanie joining in a slightly quieter tone, "Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One!"  
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" They both exclaimed along with the rest of the city. Then, before she knew what was happening, Matthew's lips were on hers, in the kiss she had been longing for for so long. Her arms found Matthew's shoulders and from there she ran her hands up into his hair, enjoying the feeling of it between her fingers. Time seemed to freeze between the two years as they kissed softly yet passionately, feeling for that moment as if they were the only two people in the world. It was over far too soon for both of them, but unfortunately oxygen is a requirement for human survival.  
"Happy New Year honey," Matthew said with a smile, raising his can of Diet Coke as if it were a glass of the finest champagne.  
She mimicked his gesture, gently knocking her can against his, "And here's to many more years together!"

 

~~~~~~~

Matthew couldn't believe what he saw on the screen. He had finally cracked the coded email he had received the day his wife had gone missing. One phrase from it echoed through his being:  
"The Red Room"  
He knew what that meant, and tried his hardest to track her down using every source he could get is hands on. Finally, after days of searching, he had the coordinates and was standing in front of the building. He tried to sneak in but of course they were expecting him. But he held onto hope because he could sense she was near.   
Thrown in a dank, dark cell that he was pretty sure was growing all kinds of fun microorganisms, he could hardly see a thing at first. But as his eyes adjusted to the light, or rather lack thereof, he noticed a shadow in the corner of the cell next-door. It let out a small groan which he instantly recognised, and he rushed over towards the sound.  
"Stephanie? Stephanie! It's me, it's Matthew, I'm here!" He cried, reaching through the bars and wrapping his hands around hers. He noticed they were sticky, presumably from drying blood.   
"Matthew? What are you doing here?" Her voice was hoarse but it was definitely her.  
"I'm here to rescue you."  
"No no no, that's what they want! You should have stayed away, you should've let me die. Now we're both goners!"   
Hours passed by, then suddenly light flooded in as a heavy metal door swung open.   
"The Red Room awaits." A masculine voice said, but it somehow sounded like a command.  
Armed men led the two down a series of corridors, and Matthew had to hold back tears as he finally got to see what they had done to his beautiful Stephanie. Bruises, burns and cuts covered her body, and blood stained both her clothes and her skin. Her hair was greasy, her body thin and sunken in. Worst of all, the bright sparkle that he had always loved finding in her brown eyes was gone.   
They strapped them to vertical beds, cameras flashing red recording lights in front of them. He didn't listen to the men, he only wanted to stare at his wife while they were still alive. Of course, she was first. He was forced to watch every cut, every hit, every stab. He screamed her name over and over as they ripped out her teeth and hair. They gagged him, but he kept screeching through it, tears streaming uncontrollably down his face. Then, when she was almost collapsing from exhaustion and pain, they put her out of her misery with a knife to the gut, twisting the blade and tearing it upwards. He felt the guard forcing his gaze to remain on her, shaking him to keep him conscious.  
"Matthew!"  
Wait, that voice, it was her.  
"Matthew, wake up!"   
He gasped as his eyes flew open, feeling the tears on his cheeks and a dryness in his throat. There she was, safe and sound, a concerned look plastered across her face.   
"Stephanie!" He cried and pulled her in tightly, "Thank God you're okay Steph, I love you so much."  
"I love you too, but what was the screaming for?"  
He must've looked traumatised, because it didn't take her long to figure out.  
"Oh no Matthew, no not-"  
"Yes. The Red Room from today's stream." Was all he could manage, tears still threatening to spill from his eyes.   
"We aren't playing that game again, ever. Not if this is the side effect."  
"I could hardly get to sleep either. What they did to you-"  
"It's okay, it was just a dream," Stephanie said gently, brushing the sweaty hairs off of Matt's forehead, noting he felt warm. "You got too hot and had a nightmare. But I'm fine, you're fine. We're all alive and well."  
"That's the thing Steph, it isn't just a dream or a game. Sure, maybe for us at the moment, but the Deep Web is real and full of twisted sites just like the Red Room. How do we know if we're safe? I mean, we are YouTubers and if anyone would get a murder dungeon more views it would be successful YouTubers. How do I know that there isn't someone tracking our every move, just waiting to strike?"  
"Oh Matthew," she sighed, feeling terrible for putting him through this. "We don't know is the truth, but we just have to believe that because we haven't touched the real Deep Web we're fine. I mean, sure maybe you put us on a hit list or two with all the Undertale related drama you've caused, but I think the Red Room would rather take nobodies who no one will miss. And if there was any YouTube community not to mess with in this way, it would be the Theorists seeing as they'd have the coordinates figured out and sent off to the police in a matter of hours. Now just try to relax, okay?" She tried to sound calm and confident, but inside she was just as scared as him. He had made some good points, but they couldn't afford to lose sleep over it (even though she knew they would, heck Matthew already had).  
So they lay awake, wrapped together in each other's arms, finding comfort in the steady rhythms of the other’s heartbeat and breathing. Eventually Stephanie fell asleep again, nuzzled into Matthew's chest. He couldn't help but note how peaceful she looked sleeping. And somehow, after what felt like hours, his eyelids felt too heavy to keep open and he finally surrendered to sleep.

 

~~~~~~~

"You know I can't ice skate," He told Stephanie staring incredulously at the pair of ice skates she was holding out towards him.  
"That's the point," she smiled enthusiastically. "I'm going to teach you!"  
"And how do you know my shoe size?"  
"Matthew, we've known each other for nearly 4 years now, of course I know your shoe size."  
He raised an eyebrow as his thoughts went straight into the gutter.  
"Oh my gosh, not for that reason!" Stephanie exclaimed and rolled her eyes at her boyfriend's antics.  
"The skating is still a no, regardless of whether those skates are the right size or not. I mean, I only have one pair of socks on, I'd probably get blisters."  
"That's why I brought a spare pair," she smiled pulling said socks out of her large pink handbag.   
He groaned, "how are you always so prepared?"  
"I'm a woman, Matthew. It's my job to always be prepared. I mean, why else would I lug this massive bag around?"  
"But what if I fall and injure myself? Then I can't work! It's too risky, Steph."  
"By that logic you'd never leave the apartment. If you look like you're going to fall, I'll catch you. Now, stop making excuses and get your skates on," she said sternly, before sitting down to change her own shoes. For a moment Matt stood still, but soon enough he was on the bench next to Stephanie changing into the ice skates.  
It took some help from Stephanie to correctly put them on, but eventually they got there and were on their way to the rink.   
"If you can do coffee grinders, you can ice skate Matthew," she encouraged him as he looked cautiously at the ice before him.   
Stephanie entered first, trying to adjust quickly so she could assist Matthew.   
Gripping tightly to the edge of the rink, he carefully placed one foot onto the slippery surface. Then, before he could change his mind, he quickly caught up his other foot. His white knuckled grip on the rail was all that was keeping him upright as he couldn't help but feel like Bambi, legs shaking and sliding around beneath him.   
"Alright, first lesson," Stephanie said pulling up beside him. "Put your feet in first position."  
He moved feet so the heels were close together and the toes further apart, still clinging to the side of the arena.   
"Good! Now you need to start skating. Pull one foot back from that position and try to not fall. Balance is key. I'm right here if you need to hold on to me."  
For almost a minute Matthew managed to skate somewhat successfully, alternating between holding onto the rink rail and Steph.  
Then a tween passed by holding on to what looked somewhat like a walking frame. They were going pretty fast despite seeming fairly new to the concept of ice skating.   
"Steph, why can't I have one of those?"   
"Well for one you're no longer young enough, but more importantly it costs money and we're too broke for that."  
"Damn it! I'd be so good at this if I had one of tho- ah!" He clung to Stephanie as he began to fall towards the ice. She caught him, but he was a fair bit heavier than her so instead Matthew ended up falling with his back on the ice, and Steph landed on top of him in an… interesting position. For a second they said nothing, the shock of the fall silencing them. Then Matt began laughing his dolphin-like laugh, attracting even more attention.  
"Are you okay?" Steph asked, concerns flooding her mind.  
He kept laughing, but managed to gasp out "I'm - fine! But maybe you should, uh, move into a less compromising position," he advised.  
"What do you - Oh gosh! Oh geez, I'm sorry!" She said, scrambling off of him at breakneck speed.   
"It's fine, I do theatre," he said, a soft laugh still echoing in his voice.   
"Well then, if you're okay let's try to stand up and keep moving, shall we?"   
"We shall!" He agreed, trying to stand as Stephanie gracefully took to her feet. But he quickly fell back onto the ice-covered arena.  
"Oh Matthew," She giggled, offering out her hand as a help. It took some difficulty, but he was eventually on his feet again, and they skated together until they were too tired to skate any longer.

~~~~~~~

The buzzing of her phone’s alarm awoke Stephanie, who groaned as she tried to open her eyes, morning light spilling into the room from the edges of their curtains.   
She turned off the alarm and rolled over to wake her partner.  
"Good morning Matthew," she said, gently kissing his cheek.   
"Morning," he replied, sounding distinctly unenthused.   
"Time to wake up, we've got a lot of work to do today."  
"Can't we just lay here for five more minutes?" He asked, giving her a pleading look.  
"No Matthew, we have to get up honey."  
She rolled over to get up, but suddenly was pulled back by two arms encircling her waist.   
"Matthew!"  
"You're never getting up, we're going to stay in bed forever!"  
"Oh really?"  
"Yep! I'm not letting you get away!"  
"Stop it, that tickles!" She giggled as he began a vicious tickle attack.  
"No, you must remain here forever! This is the only way!" He exclaimed dramatically as Steph kept squirming and laughing.  
"Seriously Matthew, I have a thimble sized bladder that might empty itself if you don't stop," she managed to gasp out amongst the laughter. Much to her relief, that stopped the attack.   
"Now, we have a meeting at 10, so we need to get up asap," Steph said as she pulled herself together.  
"I guess so," Matt sighed as they both stretched and slid out of bed.  
"Sorry if I ruined your morning."  
"Stephanie, as long as I'm with you no morning could be ruined."  
She rolled her eyes at how cliché that statement was, but gave him a kiss none the less. "I love you Matthew Patrick."  
"And Iiiiiii-e-i will always love yoooou Stephanie Patrick," he sang in a purposefully bad voice, causing them both to laugh. As cliché as it was, he was right: Every morning was a good morning as long as they were together.

~~~~~~~

Matthew had been locked away in the recording closet for the past few hours working on the latest theory. Luckily if he was recording upstairs others could still talk and make sound normally downstairs, thank goodness. So he wasn't surprised to hear music playing downstairs. And while he wasn't totally surprised that Stephanie had chosen to listen to a Disney playlist, he was surprised at the opportunity it was giving him. For as he had reach the bottom of the stairs, he heard the opening to a certain song.   
"I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream," she sang along with the song, a smile dancing on Matthew's lips as he watched her from the hallway. She was focused on the job at hand, which at that moment happened to be cleaning the stovetop. She continued singing along, believing no one was around to hear it, dancing slightly as she worked.  
"But if I know you, I know what you'll do, you'll love me at once-"  
Matthew had snuck up behind her and joined in just as Prince Phillip did, "the way you did once upon a dream."   
"OH GEEZ! Matthew!" Stephanie exclaimed, just as stunned as Aurora but slightly more verbal about it.  
"What? That was a once in a lifetime chance Steph."  
"Yeah, well you didn't have to sneak up on me like that!" She argued, but Matt only raised an eyebrow and gave her an "oh really" smile.   
Then Phillip began to sing again, Matthew singing along again, holding out his hand to his wife for a dance. It took some eye communication to convince her, but she obliged, and together they waltzed around the kitchen, singing together until the end of the song.  
"You're an utter dork," she laughed at him as he took a bow and gestured for her to take a curtsy.  
He took her hand and gently planted a kiss on it, "And that's why you love me."

~~~~~~~

She knew he was dying, she knew this was the only way. He wouldn't like it, but it was the only way.   
She looked down at him one last time, the red stain on his cream tunic obvious in the dappled light of the forest. Why had he tried to quest on his own? He knew they worked best together. He was lucky she had trailed him.   
Pulling on her green cloak she stood and spoke the name of the monster she had hoped to avoid most of all three times exactly.  
"Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin."  
A puff of smoke appeared before her, and in it stood the man she had summoned.  
"Oooh, that looks nasty. I guess you want me to do something about it, dearie," he said staring at the barely breathing near-corpse of her beloved Matthew.  
"Yes, please," she replied, not daring to look at him, her hands shaking furiously.  
"Well, he's not fully dead yet, so I suppose I could save him if I acted quickly."  
"What do you want?" She demanded, still staring at the forest floor.  
"Good to know that you are aware all magic comes with-"  
"Comes with a price, yes, I know. Just heal him, please!"   
"You're remarkably sharp witted for a maiden who can't even look at me," he remarked.  
"What is your cost?" She pressed.  
"Ah, you're one of those all business, no nonsense types. Got it. I suppose the situation is a tad urgent. Well, in order to bring your knight in shining armour back from the brink of death, I'm afraid you'll need to pay a fairly steep price."  
"You can have our firstborn, just save him!"  
"Oh, I don't want your baby, dearie. I want something more valuable, say, all of your memories of him."  
"But, then I won't even remember him, making the whole spell pointless!"  
"Think of it as a chance to fall in love for the first time again. But, I guess if you don't want my services," he began to turn away.  
"Wait!" She cried. "I'll do it. If it'll save him, I'll do it."  
The monster laughed a strange, high pitched cackle and pulled a dreamcatcher from thin air.   
"I'll heal your lover, you just stare into this. That should make the transaction."  
"Alright," she agreed, taking the object with both hands. But before she fixed her gaze, she took one last look at Matthew with her memories intact. They had done so much together, and loved each other so much. She could feel her heart breaking at just the thought of what she was about to do, of what she was about to put him through. But if he lived it was worth it.  
The Dark One began performing magic on Matthew, the blood stain beginning to shrink. Satisfied he was safe, she stared at the dreamcatcher.

Matthew bolted upright, gasping as if he had been holding his breath. He looked down, feeling his chest. The last thing he remembered he had been impaled with a sword. He was pretty sure there was no living through that.   
But it was the same forest, he was sure he recognised that tree. It didn't take him long to spot his saviour.   
Even with her back to him he would recognise that hair and figure anywhere.  
"Stephanie!" He exclaimed, jumping off the ground and running towards her.  
She flinched and stepped backwards at his approach, "Who are you and how do you know my name?"  
"Stephanie, it's me, Matthew. Now isn't the time to joke around, why are you out here my love?"  
"I don't know a Matthew, let alone love one."  
"Steph, what are you talking about?"  
"I DON'T KNOW YOU!" She yelled, causing him to throw his hands up in surrender.  
"I assure you I mean you no harm."  
"I… I don't know where I am, or how I got here, or why I'm here."  
"You were probably trailing me, keeping me safe. Don't you remember?"   
"Why would I be trailing you, I don't know you!"  
"But you do, we're married, see," he said, pointing out the ring on her finger.  
"Okay, so say hypothetically, you are telling the truth. Why would I stay at home while the man I married went out on a dangerous quest?"  
"Because we decided it was best."  
"Who for? Because right now our relationship doesn't seem to be going that well."  
"Oh Stephanie, what happened to you? You really don't remember…"  
"Remember what?" She shouted, growing impatient with the stranger’s games.  
"We agreed you should stay home because…"   
"Because what?!"  
She noticed tears glistening in the corners of his eyes, "because you're pregnant."

~~~~~~~

A metallic squeak echoed through the room as Stephanie tried to focus on sorting through their thousands of emails. She let out a deep sigh, trying to ignore it, but the motion in her peripheral vision kept her distracted.   
"Matthew, I know you're stuck on script writing, but can you please stop spinning in the new office chair?"   
Stephanie was pretty sure that was the worst purchase they had made since that time Matthew had spent a bunch of money on infomercial products.   
"But that's the appeal of this chair. I'm trying to get ideas flowing."  
"Can you do that out of my line of slight then friend?"  
"Okay," He said, scooting the chair backwards, it's wheels clanking on wooden floor. Then for a moment there was peace.  
But then I started again. The faint squeal of the chair spinning infiltrated Steph's mind, scrambling her ideas and completely derailing her train of thought. She sighed, leaning back in her chair. She turned around to face Matthew.  
"What?" He asked before she could even say anything. She gave him a look he understood all too well and he stopped the chair mid-spin.  
"I'll move to the couch now," he said quietly, picking up his laptop and shuffling across the room, trying to keep the blanket on his lap.   
Stephanie smiled as Skip followed Matt across to the couch and breathed a sigh of relief.  
'Finally,' she thought to herself as Matthew found a comfy position on the couch, 'some peace and quiet to go through all these emails.'  
She glanced back just in time to see Skip jump up on the couch and settle down near her husband's feet, purring softly. Now this was the kind of environment she could get work done in. The next time Matthew was out somewhere she was getting rid of that swivel chair.

~~~~~~~

Sitting in one of the downstairs lounges curled up with a good book is Stephanie's idea of a lovely Sunday afternoon. Currently she was reading Pride and Prejudice (again) after receiving a hardcover version for Christmas. She was happily absorbed in the life of Elizabeth Bennet when suddenly she was interrupted by a scream from upstairs.  
Immediately she threw a bookmark between the pages and slammed the book down on the coffee table, racing out of the room and taking a sharp left down the hall and sprinting up the stairs.  
"Matthew! Matthew, are you okay? Where are you? Matthew!" She called desperately, but got no response. She checked the bedroom and bathroom, but didn't find him in either, although Skip was stretched out on their bed the cheeky little boy. Another scream told her exactly where to find him: the livestream room. She could only imagine what he had done. Maybe the lights had fallen on him? Or perhaps he'd tried moving the couch only to have it fall on his foot. She raced around the hall, flinging the door open only to be greeted with another scream from the dark room. Then she realised what the screaming was about.  
Matthew was on the sofa, clutching Peepachu to his chest, controller in his hands. On the screen was a horror game, as she could guess from the dark graphics.   
"Stephanie!" He exclaimed while gasping, trying to regain his breath from the jumpscares both in game and in real life.   
"What? You were screaming bloody murder so I found you! What are you up to in here? At least if you're going to have nightmares I might as well join you," she said, settling down next to him on the couch. "Wait - are you replaying Until Dawn?"   
"Yeah," he said sheepishly. "I was curious how easy it was to kill everyone off, and Matt getting hung on a hook by a wendigo was a bit more graphic than I was prepared for."  
She let out a soft giggle, shaking her head at how much of a big baby he could be sometimes.   
"Don't laugh, it was genuinely scary, especially alone in the dark," he justified.  
"Aw, it's okay, I'm here now," Steph teased, rubbing his arm comfortingly. "So, what's happening?"   
"It looks like we're playing as Sam, and if I'm not mistaken this is the part where we run from Josh the psycho killer."   
"Oh, good! This was the one part we succeeded in during the livestream, let's go!"   
Together they lost themselves in the world of Until Dawn, comforting each other whenever they got jumpscared, covering each other's eyes when a character was suffering a gruesome death. Taking turns holding Peepachu they made their way through the game, always making the worst choice possible. They even decided to save Emily in the mines just so Mike could shoot her. It was both scary and hilarious, just how they liked spooky games. And so they remained snuggled up together, playing Until Dawn into the late hours of the night. 

~~~~~~~

Matthew had been up late urgently working on the theory he needed to finish the script for. He had brushed his teeth, removed his contact lenses, got into his pyjamas, etc. at the same time as Stephanie seeing as he didn't want to wake her, especially since she had been finding it hard to sleep recently. Then again, being 6 months pregnant will do that to you.   
As he crept into bed as quietly as possible, he smiled at the ridiculous number of pillows Steph was using to make herself comfy. By some miracle she seemed to be asleep, her chest rising and falling at a slow and steady pace. Carefully he slid into bed, trying not to throw off the strategic pillow placement.   
He tried to get to sleep, but something was keeping him awake. Probably how close he was to the edge of the mattress. So instead, he shuffled down the bed until he was at the same level as Steph's stomach.  
"Hey BabyPat," he whispered softly. "I know you probably can't hear me but I just wanted you to know that even though I haven't met you I already love you so incredibly much. I'm sure you will be smartest, most beautiful person the world has ever seen, but even if you aren't we'll love you regardless. I can't wait to meet you, although I'm terrified at the same time. I don't want to let you down, I don't want you to have to face the harshness of the real world. But you can't stay in there forever, that would be… very strange. And biologically impossible. Anyway, if the interesting cravings your mother has been having are anything to go by, you will certainly have an interesting set of tastebuds. Like, who thinks to mix pickles and ice cream, freeze it and then put it between two burger buns? Apparently, you do, or at least you make your mom think of that. Speaking of, you've also made her rather forgetful, which she isn't appreciative of. Oh, and if someone gets on her bad side they had better watch out, because she will sass you into next week if you aren't careful. Little BabyPat, I love you and your mom more than anything in the world, in fact, you two are my world. Sure, YouTube is important and I love all the loyal Theorists, but with you two it's different. I don't think you'll ever understand the feeling until you have a partner and child of your own. It's an incredibly overwhelming feeling, the kind of love I feel for you. And I am so excited that you are only a few months away. So, stay safe and know you are loved."   
Ever so softly he kissed her pregnant stomach and then carefully moved back into a comfortable sleeping position. Just as he began to drift off to sleep, he heard Stephanie's voice, "that was a lovely talk you had with BabyPat. You're going to be an amazing father."  
"And you will be the best mother in the universe, my wonderful Stephanie," he replied, kissing her forehead. "Now, try to get some sleep."  
"Ay ay Captain," she joked sleepily, and he chuckled in the way one does at 1am, that deep, slow kind of laughter that tells of drowsiness. After exchanging sleepy goodnights, Matthew felt himself being pulled into the dark, warm embrace of sleep, and before he knew it he was off in dreamland.

~~~~~~~

He saw it happen, yet he was powerless to stop it. He watched as the knife sunk through his beautiful wife's chest like she was made of melted butter. Only, butter doesn't bleed so much. The hooded figure ran off too fast, and Matthew wanted to stay by Steph's side. He had called 911, but she insisted she wouldn't make it that long.   
"I'm so sorry Stephanie. I'm so, so sorry," he repeated over and over again, sobbing relentlessly, as she desperately tried to cling to life.   
"I love you so much Matthew Patrick. Never forget that," she gasped shakily.  
"No Steph, you can't leave me! I won't let you leave. Just stay with me, focus on my voice. The ambulance will get here soon, and everything will be alright."  
She let out a short, sad laugh, "Oh Matthew, you always were an optimist at heart. I'm sorry, but this is it. This is the end of our adventure."  
"No, no, no, no, it can't be! Our adventure has only just begun, just hold on and you can get through this."  
She too had begun tearing up, "Thank you so much for filling my life with love and excitement. Spending my life with you was the best choice I ever made. Just promise me to find happiness when I'm gone."  
"But you aren't going to go, this isn't how our story ends!" His tears were falling into her face at this point, but she didn't mind. It felt like rain. She had always loved the rain. "You haven't even travelled to nearly enough countries! I'm sorry we couldn't have started traveling sooner, I'm so sorry we put it off. I wish I could've given you more adventures. But if you just stay with me, we'll go on so many more!"  
"There is nothing to forgive. After all, you said it yourself. I don't care about not having seen the world, because the best adventure was being together."  
"Please, don't let our adventure end. Not now, not here," he pleaded, interlocking his fingers in hers.   
"Matthew?"   
"Yes?"  
"Can you sing for me?"   
It was a simple request, and he knew hundreds of songs, but in that moment, he had no idea what to do, "What would you like me to sing?"  
"Something simple and happy. Don't you dare start singing Little Fall of Rain."  
"Um, okay," he tried to think of something that fit her request, and only one song appeared in his mind. He could barely carry the tune through his weeping, but he did his best, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey. You'll never know dear, how much I love you. So please don't take my sunshine away."   
She smiled up at him, blood staining her teeth as her coughing began to bring up the crimson liquid. "Thank you, that was beautiful. It was the best last memory I could ask for."  
She coughed even harder, scarlet spilling down her chin and onto her shirt.  
"Please, Stephanie. I love you," he begged, his words beginning to fail.   
"I love you too, my dearly beloved Matthew." She said as colour drained from her face. He watched, unable to do anything other than cry, as the joy that had always filled her poop-brown eyes drained away, until he was left with a body devoid of the brightness that had once filled it with life.   
As the wail sirens finally began to echo nearby, it was already too late. Gently he cradled the lifeless body of the woman he loved more than anything in the world, sobbing and desperately wishing he could take her place.   
But the rules of life could not be broken.   
Stephanie Patrick was dead.

 

A/N: Hello again lovely readers!  
Wow, sorry to leave you on a bit of a downer there, but I couldn’t resist.  
Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on the previous chapters! It really means so much to hear from all you lovely Theorists!  
Hopefully I’ll update with another chapter soon, this time probably just a normal one shot. I have some ideas up my sleeve. But I am going away on holidays for two weeks, so I don’t know if I’ll have internet at all during that time. But that means I’ll just have to focus on writing!   
Also, just a little life update, I got into the university course I wanted! I’m starting studying Medical Science at the end of February, so just a warning that updates may slow a bit. But then again, I have an hour bus ride there, so who knows, maybe I’ll use that time to write!  
But that’s enough from me, if you want more of my ramblings I have a twitter account of the same name as this one, which I mostly use to do GTLive related stuff. Thank you for all your support, it really does mean so much to me!  
I hope you have an awesome week, and I will see you in the next chapter!  
~Lark


	4. A Jar of Notes

One Shot 3: A Jar of Notes

 

Stephanie was out for coffee catching up with some of her friends from college and Matthew was curious.

A few weeks earlier they had made the somewhat regrettable decision of doing a Try Not To Cry Challenge livestream, and Stephanie had said something interesting. One of the videos, a gum commercial he was pretty sure, had started the story of how he wrote Stephanie notes and put them in her bag when she went to work when they first moved to LA. She said she had kept them all, but Matthew hadn't seen them since he wrote them. So, obviously, he wanted to find them.

The most obvious, and logical, place they would be kept is somewhere in their bedroom. And so there he was, scrounging around in the various drawers and cupboards of the bedroom.

Stephanie was the more organised of the two, so it would probably be labelled and stored in the company of other items she had collected for sentimental value. He had looked where he thought the glass shards of the mirror they had broken on the day of their engagement were kept, but Steph must've moved it without him knowing. Or maybe with him knowing and he had forgotten. Either way, he didn't know where it was now.

He looked through drawer after drawer, occasionally stopping to look at the various photos they had displayed around the room. Finally, right at the back of the top shelf of the wardrobe was a big green box labelled "Memory Box!" He pulled it down to find it packed with all kinds of objects that evoked fond memories.

Trying to ignore the other items in the box, he focused on a glass jar full of small folded notes, most of which were brightly coloured sticky notes.

Carefully he set the jar down on the bed, storing the large box back in the wardrobe from whence it came.

He hesitated, staring at jar and wondering if he should open it now or wait until Stephanie was home so they could look together. As much as he was impatient to read what he had written all those years ago, he also liked to do things like this with his wife. The only exception had been when he was making preparations for their Relationship Museum and proposal video, but that was for obvious reasons.

Besides, he had research and scripts to do for Game Theory and Film Theory, so he had plenty to do to keep himself busy. But as he attempted to write a cohesive theory, his mind kept drifting to the contents of the glass jar he had left sitting on their aqua blanket.

Before he knew what he was doing he was sitting on the edge of the bed, the jar half way to being open. _'Sorry Stephanie,'_ he thought as he opened it and took out a bright pink sticky note.

 

~~~~~~~

 

"Look Steph! The latest theory has 100 views already!" Matthew exclaimed, proudly holding up his laptop.

"That's amazing honey, but I really have to get going for work," she sighed, finishing off the last bite of the peanut butter covered toast she was having for breakfast.

"Aw, I'll miss you," he said, scanning the room for her bag as she went upstairs to grab her coat. Finding it on the couch by the door, he quickly shoved a pink sticky note into a pocket before rushing back to his previous position.

"Good luck with the job hunt honey," she said pulling on her beige coat and moving over to pick up her bag.

He followed her over to the front door, giving her a quick kiss, "Good luck at work, I know you’ll be amazing."

"Love you!"

"Love you too!"

The door closed and Matthew was alone.

 

Steph sighed as she finally took her lunch break. So far it had been one of those days at work. It felt like the universe had conspired against her with everything from incompetent colleagues to malfunctioning technology ruining her day. Her stomach growled as she opened up her bag to take out the peanut butter sandwich she had for lunch (she was sick of peanut butter, but they could only afford one spread at a time and Matthew preferred it).

As she satisfied her hunger, she began her favourite activity at work: searching for notes from Matthew.

After a few minutes of digging past keys, old wrappers and lip glosses, she finally found a little pink sticky note tucked into one of the innermost pockets. She couldn't hold back her smile as she unfolded it, seeing Matthew's untidy writing and hearing his voice as she read:

"Your smile could light up the darkest of rooms and melt the coldest of hearts.

Never lose it or underestimate its power.

Lots of love, Matthew"

 

He had even draw a little smiley face next to the usual love heart he put in the bottom right corner. She felt a warm glow of joy and love spread through her body as she thought of her husband. He was such a dork, but she wouldn't have it any other way. Then she realised that she was smiling for the first time in hours that day. Of course he was the one person who could always make her give the smile he loved so much.

 

~~~~~~~

 

As he stared at the note he remembered how Steph had told him how much it had meant to her, and before he knew it tears were welling in the corners of his eyes. He was so caught up in his memories that he didn't even hear the _click thud_ of the front door or the gentle callings of his name. It wasn't until a familiar face peaked around the doorway that he realised Stephanie was home.

"Matthew, what's wrong?" She asked with a frown, concern colouring her voice as she swiftly took a seat next to him, taking in the glass jar and pink paper in his hand.

"It's just I'm sorry I don't have the opportunity to do these anymore. I'm worried that I don't remind you how special you are often enough, and how much I love you and believe in you. Especially with all the hate being on the internet can bring," his voice was soft and sad, like a small child who had lost their favourite toy. When he looked up Stephanie could see in his eyes that he felt like he had let her down, and she felt a pang in her own heart.

"Oh Matthew," she said, pulling him in close, wrapping her arms around him. It was only seconds before she felt his arms wrap around her small waist and heard a muffled sniffle as he tried to hold back his tears. "You don't need to write me daily notes for me to know you believe in me. You encourage me all the time in the little things you say and do. Heck, even just in the way you always listen to my ideas and are so supportive of my contributions shows me how much faith you have in me!"

He said nothing for a moment, but she could feel his chest rapidly rising and falling as he let out soft, short sob, "Thank you."

He pulled back and smiled up at her, tear tracks running down his cheeks. Steph gently wiped the tears away before turning her gaze back to the jar that had started this conversation.

"Now, what were you doing looking through this jar without me?" She asked holding up the offending object, causing Matthew to become tense again.

"I was going to wait, I promise, but I couldn't get any work done, I was too curious."

She laughed, placing the jar back on the bed, "That's alright, I was just kidding! We don't have to do absolutely everything together. That being said, I wouldn't mind having a look through the jar with you. I'm afraid you've made me curious too."

"Let's look then," he replied, offering her the open jar to pick a note from. She dug deep into the jar and pulled out a small, folded piece of blue paper.

She gasped, "Oh my gosh, I remember this day!"

 

~~~~~~~

 

Stephanie paced nervously in the living room. Today was the first time she had to present a talk at a meeting. Sure, another more experienced colleague was helping her present it, but that didn't change the fact that she was going to be speaking in front of all those people. Public speaking, due to his musical theatre background, had always been more Matthew's thing. She had always been the shy nerdy girl who let others present projects as much as possible.

"Hey, are you alright Steph?" Her husband asked entering the room still dressed in his pyjamas. Oh, the perks of being unemployed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just nervous, that's all."

"About the meeting?"

"Yeah," she sighed and leant against the counter. "You know that presenting things has never been my strong point, especially in front of people I don't know that well."

"You did plenty of presentations at college, just pretend it's one of those."

"But that was about science, a topic I'm comfortable with. This is all about economics, and I've only been working here for a few months now."

"Stephanie, you've been working on this presentation for weeks, I'm sure it's perfect. All you have left to do is present it, which I know you can do!"

"Matthew, you're sweet, really, but I've literally changed my outfit 5 times this morning and I've already read through the speech 7 times. I am terrified, and I know I am going to screw it up and I couldn't even eat breakfast-"

She stopped as she was suddenly engulfed by a strong pair of arms and pulled in close. She didn't hesitate to hug him back, holding onto him as if her life depended on it. She pressed her head into his chest, listening to his heartbeat. She felt him gently kiss the top of her head over and over, and slowly she began to calm down.

"As much as I wish we could stay like this," she heard him say, his voice rumbling in his chest, "we can't have you being late to work on an important day like this."

"Right, I'll go get my jacket," she said racing off upstairs.

Once she was out of sight, he pulled out the blue piece of paper he had written on the previous night from his pocket. Carefully he found a spot in her bag that was obvious enough for her to find it, but hidden enough that it wouldn't be found too quickly.

Just as he finished, he heard footsteps on the stairs signalling her return.

"Your bag, my lady," he said, offering her the bag with a slight bow.

She almost laughed, a smile flashing across her face before the stress returned to her expression, "Why thank you, kind sir."

"It is my pleasure. Good luck, my beautiful Stephanie. As they say in theatre, break a leg."

"I do hope they don't mean that literally!" She joked, "Thank you though, I'm going to need it."

"I'm sure you will give the best presentation they've heard in months! I love you!"

"I love you too."

And with a quick peck and the closing of a door they were apart once more.

 

Stephanie hadn't been able to eat lunch either.

 _'Why did this meeting have to be in the afternoon?'_ She thought, nervously twirling a strand of brown hair around her finger.

She opened up her bag, searching for a lip gloss. She at least wanted to look acceptable, because despite Matthew constantly telling her how beautiful she is, she had never quite believed it herself.

Finally finding the correct pocket she went to pull out the lip gloss, but her fingers also wrapped around a folded-up piece of blue paper.

She smiled, knowing it was from Matthew. She had completely forgotten about finding his note amongst the panic of the day, but he had known exactly where to put it.

She unfolded it, the smile remaining on her face as she read:

"Just a reminder that I know you'll blitz this meeting. You're so smart, beautiful and kind, I don't know how you could possibly fail. But if something does go wrong, remember I love you no matter what.

Yours, Matthew"

 

"Stephanie!" The voice of her co-worker broke through her thoughts, pulling her back to reality. "Come on, we have to get ready for the meeting!"

"Coming!" She said, refolding the paper and putting it in her pocket. Quickly she applied the lip gloss and speed-walked to the room where the meeting was being held. She stopped just before the door, remembering the words of the paper tucked in her pocket. And, despite the raging emotions inside, she put on a smile and stepped into the room.

 

~~~~~~~

 

"I'm pretty sure this note is the only way I managed to survive that first presentation," she said, putting it to the side with the pink sticky note. "Your turn!"

They kept going, taking turns to pull out notes of all colours and sizes from within the jar, Skip joining them briefly at one point when he got hungry. The notes varied from being sweet and supportive to just really bad jokes (mostly puns) he had written to make her smile.

Finally, there was one white piece of paper with torn edges left. They had purposefully left this one alone until now, seeing as it was the first note he had written to her while they were in LA. It was slightly crinkled, and when Stephanie opened it the fold lines were harshly engraved into the paper. But it was all in one piece, the humble beginnings of an extended gesture of love. They both smiled, remembering the day it had all started.

 

~~~~~~~

 

Today was the first day at a new workplace for Stephanie. And she was terrified.

She thought the first day of college had been scary, but that was nothing compared to this. She had dragged Matthew across the country with her to pursue this job that she didn't even know if she would be any good at. Boxes still littered the rooms of their new house, waiting to be unpacked. What if she wasn't any good and they had just wasted all that money moving?

"Steph, relax."

"How am I meant to relax on a day like today? Our whole future depends on this job going well for me, and you want me to relax?"

"Well, it would be nice if you didn't look like you thought your toast was going to attack you."

"Sorry, I guess I'm just a little on edge," she sighed, continuing to struggle to eat her breakfast.

"That's alright, I just don't want you to be unnecessarily stressing yourself out. I love you too much for that. Besides, you're so smart that I'm sure you'd be fantastic at any job you put your mind to.”

"Says you mister perfect SAT score A++ student who can't get employment anywhere."

"I'm just overqualified and they'd rather hire 16 year olds so they can pay them less."

She laughed, but it came out sounding nervous, so she turned her gaze back to her food. As she stared her watch caught her eye, "Oh geez! I need to get going!"

She abandoned the toast, sprinting off upstairs to grab her jacket and bag.

"Have a good day, love. I'm sure you'll be awesome," Matthew said pulling her into a tight hug and kissing a trail from her forehead down to her cheek, ending with a quick but meaningful 'proper' kiss, one where he could taste the faint hint of berry spread that was left on her lips.

"I can't wait for today to be over!"

"And I'll be right here when you arrive home."

"I hope so! Good luck with the job hunt."

"Thanks, if here is anything like New York I'm going to need it. Although I am also hopefully going to work on the next theory a bit too."

"Sounds good, I'd better run though. See you tonight!"

"See you then, love you!"

"I love you too, Matthew."

 

It was 1:30pm and her lunch break was over. Stephanie tucked the container her sandwich had been in back into her bag and went to grab the mirror she carried to check she didn't have any trace of lunch around her mouth. Her bag was incredibly organised, especially on a day like today, so she knew exactly where to find it. But it wasn't the only thing she found.

Folded up in the same pocket as the mirror was an unfamiliar piece of paper. It was too purposefully positioned to have fallen in there by chance, so someone must have put it in there. Not wanting to upset herself in case it was a nasty message from someone in the office, she put it back in the bag and turned her attention back to the mirror. But as she looked and found no embarrassing crumbs or traces of spread around her mouth or stuck between her teeth, she couldn't help but have an overwhelming sense of curiosity and anxiety as to the contents of the note sitting in her bag. It had been beside her all day, how was it possible that someone had placed a note in there? Was she really that disliked already?

 _'Stephanie, you're being ridiculous. Stop this behaviour at once,'_ she chided herself, she wasn't usually this scared of a piece of paper. Maybe it was a lovely welcome note someone had slipped in there! Plucking up her courage she pulled out the note and unfolded it. As she did she noticed the sloppy folding and torn edges, as if someone had written it quickly on a larger sheet, then torn it off and hurriedly folded it up. But then she saw the all too familiar handwriting, and smiled knowing exactly who her mystery note writer was. She stifled her laughter as she read:

"My dear Stephanie,

there is nothing I would love to do more than spend every single hour of every day of my life with you. But unfortunately at least one of us has to work ;) I’m so proud of you, go show them how smart, beautiful, funny and talented you are!

Lots of love, Matthew."

It was such a Matthew thing to do, it was a wonder she hadn't known it was him from the second she found it. She smiled, noticing the tiny love heart he had drawn in the corner underneath his name. He had known exactly what to do to encourage her, and it felt like he was almost there with her, by her side, cheering her on. It had been an overwhelming morning, and this little note to tell her she was on his mind and that he had faith in her was all she needed to conquer the afternoon. And she knew exactly how to let him know how much it meant to her.

 

"Honey, I'm home!" Stephanie jokingly called out as she locked the front door behind her, setting her bag down on the floor.

"Hey Steph!" He exclaimed, entering the room and absorbing her into a huge hug. After a week or so spent together almost 24/7, they had really missed the company of each other over the course of the day. He pecked her cheek before leaning back to create a more appropriate amount of space for talking, "How was the first day at the office?"

"Yeah, good! They mostly seem like really nice people, so I guess I had good luck there. What's for dinner?"

"Well, do you want Chinese takeaway? Or pizza? Or should we go out to a Sushi Train?"

"Matthew, we can hardly afford any of that!"

"It's a celebration! Moving cities and starting a new job doesn't happen all that often. Besides, we'd be going somewhere fairly cheap, I've done all my research, now you pick."

"Honestly, it's been such a long day. I'd just like to stay at home and watch Beauty and the Beast. Maybe pizza would be nice?"

"Alright, pizza it is! There's a place called Barones nearby that apparently do really nice pizzas. Neapolitan?"

"Obviously! I'll get the movie set up."

Matthew moved into the front room, not wanting to pick up the TV in the background and also so he could be there waiting when the pizza was delivered. It only took 8 minutes for the delivery to arrive, and once he had tipped the pizza boy and sent him on his way, he took the pizza back into the combined kitchen and living room area.

Steph was busy setting up the movie, so he took it upon himself to retrieve the two cans of Diet Coke (this was a celebration, after all) and to get out the plates for their food. As he reached in to get the plates however he noticed a tightly folded piece of white paper. He immediately recognised it and was confused as to how it got there, and gently unfolded it to find any clue as to how his note to Stephanie had ended up in the kitchen cupboard. His writing he recognised, remembering how he had quickly written it that morning because she had been so nervous and he had wanted to make her feel better. Then he flipped it over and found the neat handwriting he had been looking for, which simply read:

 

"Thank you, Matthew, you adorable dork. I love you so much"

 

He smiled, and noticed that just like him she had drawn a love heart in the corner (although hers was much neater). Setting down the drinks and plates and abandoning the pizza he rushed into the lounge area and hugged Stephanie from behind.

"Matthew! Geez!" She exclaimed, giggling in shock at the unexpected hug.

"I love you so much too, my gorgeous wife and amazing best friend!" He said, releasing her so she could turn around for a proper embrace.

"I see you found my note," she smiled, and it felt like the whole room lit up.

"I see you found mine," he replied before pulling her close, holding her in his arms, desperately trying to convey how much he loved her and cared about her.

"But seriously, thank you," she murmured softly against his chest, her head pressed against him so she could hear his heartbeat and feel the rise and fall of his chest. "I was feeling so anxious about work, paranoid about whether I was doing a good enough job to have justified moving across the country. But you, Matthew Robert Patrick, can always make me smile, and I know as long as we have each other, we can do anything, well almost. I mean, maybe we wouldn't win any cooking contests, but I know whatever life throws our way, we've got this."

"You truly believe that?" He asked, surprised at how sappy she was being.

"Yes, I do. Now, go get Mr Pizza before he catches a cold!"

Matthew laughed, but didn't want to risk their pizza falling ill (or more likely becoming all gross and lukewarm) so he returned to the kitchen and fetched the food, plates and drinks. The drama of the morning felt like days ago to them as they snuggled up under a blanket, Stephanie leaning back into Matthew's chest. Together they laughed, theorised, sung and even cried their way through the movie (Be Our Guest was particularly good, Matthew's French accent however was not). Stephanie couldn't have asked for a better end to her first day working in LA.

 

~~~~~~~

 

"Oh man, now I just really want some pizza," Steph said as she began placing all the notes back into the jar.

"Well, it's just about dinner time, we could totally ring up Barones."

"Yes! That sounds so good! It’s too late to start making our own pizza now."

"Alright, I'll go order, Neapolitan?"

"You know me so well," she replied, and Matthew raced off downstairs to where he had left his phone. Stephanie finished putting all the little pieces of paper, little moments in their history, back into their glass vessel. Staring at the jar she smiled at how many memories one little jar of notes could contain. Really it was more a jar of memories, the notes were just the form those memories took. Moving over to the wardrobe she pulled down the Memory Box, being as careful with it as if it were a priceless jewel. Opening it evoked a flood of memories from the countless objects, photos and letters that filled the box. This gave Stephanie an idea. One she might have to save for a little while, but one worth saving none the less.

The faint sound of the doorbell brought her out of her thoughts, and she quickly finished packing everything away before Matthew started yelling about the anthropomorphic pizza catching a viral disease.

They spent the evening reliving nostalgic stories from College and New York, both laughing at the stupid stories from their youth (and the pictures of Matthew they managed to find on the internet). It was a very unconventional way to spend the time, but by the end of the night they didn't know why they didn't reminisce more often.

That night in bed when they were comfortably lying side by side, Stephanie almost pressed up against Matthew if not for Skip's insistence on being the middle spoon, he couldn't help but think how lucky he was to have already had so much time with the beautiful woman he called his wife, and how whenever they were together he wished time was infinite just so he could spend it all with her. But then again, it was in the fact that time was so precious that made every moment, every memory, every word, every silly little note mean so much. And if that was true, then he hoped to spend as much of his small loan of time as possible just living life with Stephanie.

 

 

**A/N:**

**Happy Valentine’s Day my dear Readers!**

**First things first, whether you’re happily in a relationship or happily single like myself, I hope you have (or have had) a lovely Valentine’s Day! As Matthew would remind you, make sure to say or do something to let your loved ones know they are loved!**

**Thank you all so much for all the support you’ve given me in writing this, it’s so awesome to hear how much you all enjoy these little stories! The GTLive community must be one of the nicest on the internet!**

**This story is special in that it marks the start of a little string of one shots that, while they stand alone, will have connections to each other. The next one shot will probably be the next in the string, followed by another imagines/prompts collection. I’m excited to share the ideas I’ve had in my brain for weeks with you!**

**For a life update, I’m starting University very soon, which means who knows how soon the next update will be?! It is a long bus ride, so if I can get a seat that will hopefully mean I’ll get some writing done, and I do have some time on campus when I don’t have class, so who knows how this big change in my life will affect the one shot production speed?**

**Anyway, lots of love to all of you on Valentine’s Day 2017! I hope you all have an amazing week, don’t miss out on a very special GTLive coming up on Friday the 17 th of February at 4pm PST, I hear there are going to be some pretty awesome giveaways!**

**I’ll see you in the next chapter,**

**~Lark <3**


	5. Matthew Patrick Isn't Gay?

**Quick A/N: Hey guys, I’ll talk more after the fic, but just letting you know it isn’t in the ‘chain’ of fics, because the one I had hoped to post next that IS in the chain is being a pain to write, and I didn’t want to leave you waiting for forever without any fanfics from me, especially when GTLive is on break for so long.**

**Anyways, enough from me, on with the fanfic:**

One Shot 4: Matthew Patrick Isn't Gay?

 

"Hi guys, I'm Matt's girlfriend Claire!"

With those few words, Stephanie Cordato's world was turned upside down. Everything within her flew into full WTF mode as she tried to comprehend the incoming information.

As Matt and Claire shared a quick peck on the lips, Stephanie's theory was disproven.

Turns out Matthew Patrick is NOT gay.

Well, he still could be bi, but he wasn't gay. Dang it, now she owed Jessica $10.

How had she known Matthew for 2 months now and never heard about his girlfriend?

She hoped her exterior looked a lot calmer than her interior felt. She could practically feel the walls of what she thought of Matthew shifting and crumbling.

But he just seemed so… flamboyant! Weren't all musical theatre boys gay? Then again that's stereotyping, of course she shouldn't have trusted it.

It was a Friday night and Steph's third time joining Matt and some of his residents in a night of exchanging funny videos and pictures from the internet. Claire sat directly next to - no, practically on top of - Matthew, leaning her head of auburn hair into him. Steph noticed with a pang in her chest as his arm snaked around her waist, pulling his girlfriend closer.

Wait, a pang? Of what?! They were just friends, purely platonic. They just happened to share a lot of one on one time together working on projects. Just projects, just friends, no feelings.

Then why could she practically feel her skin turning green?

Probably just because she felt betrayed. Having a girlfriend is something you tell people about! Like just casually in conversation it should come up, probably when asking about what happened over the weekend. If he had just told her earlier on about this Claire she would’ve been fine. Yeah, she just felt bad because she hadn't been told. That was all.

 

Something seemed off with Stephanie tonight, Matt thought as he glanced at her. She wasn't laughing as much as usual, which always concerned him. He knew she was getting sick of the Charlie the Unicorn video at this point, but it couldn't be just that. There were no playful whines, and instead of looking fed up she almost looked angry.

Claire tapped his chest, "Do you have any videos you want to watch Matty?"

He noticed the whole group looking his way and instantly worried Steph had noticed him staring. Sure, he liked Stephanie, but he had his Claire-bear, and he had to be loyal to her. He shook his head, both to indicate no and to try to clear away his meandering thoughts.

Sometimes, when he and Steph were one-on-one he'd get lost in those chocolate eyes, or he'd be laughing harder than he thought was possible and for a moment he'd forget about Claire and catch a glimpse of what a future with Stephanie could be like. But then he'd remember that he was going steady with someone else, remember that he had a ginger-haired dancer whom his heart belonged to.

Perhaps he should've mentioned her to Stephanie at some point. But it just never came up in conversation, so he never said anything. He'd never intentionally hurt someone's feelings, especially someone as sweet as Steph. But now he feared he had made a rift between the two of them, and he didn't know if he'd ever be able to mend it.

 

The night went on and while there was lots of laughter shared by the group of college students, two of the group felt uneasy underneath the surface. Every time Stephanie heard Claire talk, or watched her snuggle up to Matthew and smooch him, she felt a dull burning in her chest. It created a storm inside as she began fighting herself: she didn't like him, why did she care? Well, she did like him but not quite like that… or did she? No. That's stupid. She'd fell in love before and this wasn't it… was it? Screw it, either way why the hell hadn't he ever mentioned her before? Like she'd maybe heard about Claire once or twice in passing, but never as a girlfriend. And Matthew had so many female friends it was impossible to know if any of them were more than friends. Sure, she'd never asked, but that's because she didn't want to look interested, because she wasn't interested… or maybe. No! He has a girlfriend. Where had her ever present rationality gone?

Meanwhile Matthew felt guilty. He tried not to look at Steph, because every time he could tell something wasn't right behind her smile. He tried to rationalise that maybe an essay had her feeling under the weather, but the rest of him screamed it was his fault. It felt wrong to kiss Claire with Stephanie around. Her lips felt wrong against his, even though he swore it had felt amazing when they kissed just yesterday.

Matt knew Stephanie was lovely, but she was just a friend, nothing more and he was sure she'd never want to be more than a friend. She's too good for a theatre major like him. But no matter how much he said it he knew that - while he tried to stay true to Claire - somehow Miss Cordato had stolen a piece of his heart. And he repayed her with terrible communication skills. But just like Stephanie he forced a smile and laughed, using his best acting skills to try to pass as amused. He let Claire lean into his arms, holding her close, reminding him he was taken. She had the funniest laugh, and her blue eyes sparkled with each snort of laughter. He loved Claire, loved the way she was ever so slightly taller than him when she wore heels and would tease him about it, loved to watch her dance as she surrendered her body to the rhythm of the music, loved the way she always asked him how his day had been. He loved Claire, but for the first time since they had started dating something felt wrong.

Everyone began to leave, even Claire who insisted she would be fine walking the two minutes to her dorm on her own (much to the dismay of Matthews's chivalrous side). Eventually it was just Stephanie and Matthew left.

"I didn't know you had a girlfriend," Stephanie said, trying to sound casual as she brushed a stray strand of hair back from her face.

"You've never asked before, but you know now, I guess," he replied, collecting all the wrappers scattered about the room and shoving them in the trash. "Sorry if that upset you."

"No. I was just a tad surprised, that's all," Stephanie said, remaining calm despite the boiling sea beneath her skin. She wanted to tell at him everything, how she really felt, but something within her was hesitant to trust him. Besides, she didn't want to make things worse. It would seem selfish and envious if she were to complain.

An awkward silence filled the room. They hadn’t had many of those before. Neither of the two seemed to know what to say.

"I'd better get going," Stephanie said, gesturing to the clock on the wall which told them it was nearly midnight.

"Should I walk with you?"

"No, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

As she turned to walk out the door, she felt a hand grip her wrist.

"Steph-" Matthew started as she whirled around, her eyes meeting his worry-filled brown ones.

"Yes Matthew?"

"I mean it, I'm truly sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"Thank you, but honestly, I'm fine."

"At least let me walk you to your dorm, it's too late for you to be walking alone," he insisted.

Stephanie hesitated for a moment before replying, "Alright." She almost smiled as Matthew's face lit up like a child who had just received a big box of chocolates.

So they left behind Matthew's dorm room and hallway, ready to venture across campus. It took a minute for the awkward silence to wear off, but by the time they reached the front door of his building they were chatting as easily as ever, Matthew talking about a funny incident at rehearsals earlier that week and Steph laughing along.

They hardly noticed the 12 minutes that passed as they made the trek to Stephanie's dorm. In each other's company, it felt like only 4 minutes at most. As they ascended the stairs out the front of Steph's dorm building, they both realised their walk together had come to an end.

"I hope that at least some of your evening was enjoyable," Matthew said with a smile.

"Yeah, I mean you're pretty good at making any evening a good one," that was so much worse said out loud, she thought.

"I'm glad to hear that, after all that's basically what I'm majoring in," he joked, his infectious smile slowly disassembling the brick wall Stephanie had built around her heart over the years.

She sighed, glancing down at the time, "I'd better get going, I need to actually have gotten some sleep tonight so I can work on all my essays over the weekend."

"Good luck with that, I have two six hour rehearsals," he replied.

"That actually sounds like a form of torture."

"It's pretty fun most of the time."

"I'd still rather write an essay."

He laughed, "Well goodnight, Miss Cordato."

"Goodnight, Mr Patrick," she replied slipping back into her dorm. As she made her way up the 3 flights of stairs to her dorm she remembered that she owed her roommate $10, hating more the fact that she'd have to admit she was wrong than that she was about to be $10 poorer. But why had this revelation made her feel so strange? Why did it matter so much that Matthew Patrick isn’t gay?

 

**A/N: Hello fellow theorists!**

**Sorry it’s been so long since my last update, I was just really busy with uni work and also being stubborn about wanting what will hopefully be next chapter to be this one. But I had this idea one night at 1am, as with most of my more out-there fanfic ideas, and I couldn’t help but write it. And I figured with the GTLive hiatus you could all use some cute college Stephew, even if they technically aren’t a couple here. This fic was inspired by a conversation during the truth or dare stream in case you were curious as to how this came into being.**

**I’m currently on a two week break from uni, so hopefully that between that and no GTLive I can get more writing done and have the next chapter out soon-ish, as well as some drawing projects up on twitter in the near future.**

**I hope you are all surviving the GTLive drought, and if you want to come join the GT-not-so-Live fan run rewatches of old streams held on twitter! Thank you so much each and every one of you for all your beautiful comments and other forms of support. Even just reading it means so much to me, love you all!**

**Have an amazing week, and I will see you in the next chapter!**

**~Lark~**


	6. The Relationship Museum 2.0

 

**WARNING: This fic is SUPER long, so prepare yourself before reading. Also it the second in that 'string' I started with Jar of Notes. Thank and enjoy!**

 

The Relationship Museum 2.0

 

 

Matthew sighed as his car pulled up into the drive of his home. It had been a long day, taking time out of his "free time" on a chilly Saturday in March (although with Game Theory and Film Theory is there ever really such a thing as a day off?) to do a collab with Nate. How much everyone would love the song and music video more than made up for it, but he was exhausted and couldn't think of anything better than collapsing onto the couch and cuddling up with Stephanie and Skip.

Having parked the car in the garage, he made his way to the front door, tiredly fumbling to get the keys out of his pocket. He could ring the doorbell, but he didn't want to disturb Stephanie when he could easily do it himself. Finding the correct key he unlocked the door and gently opened it, just in case Skip was hanging out close to the door.

But looking inside he noticed something was wrong.

Well, maybe wrong wasn't quite the right word. Different probably better described what awaited him behind the door.

There was a partition set up between the front longue area and Theorist HQ, which normally he could see on the far side of the room. It seemed there were small displays across the room, and on the small half-wall directly in front of him which separated the door from the lounge stood a small sign that held a fragment of an answer.

A familiar chalkboard no longer read GTLive and wasn't covered in "art", instead the green writing on it read

_Welcome to Matthew and Stephanie's Relationship Museum 2.0!_

Around the words were small love hearts drawn in red, and then he noticed the small writing at the bottom of the sign which said

_Please follow the string!_

Sure enough, right behind it was a shiny green balloon weight with a piece of red yarn attached to it, the same 'string' they had used to sometimes connect ideas on the Theorising Whiteboard.

Matthew was confused. Had he missed an occasion? Why was Steph initiating a grand romantic gesture? That was his job! What had he forgotten?

Movement in his peripheral vision caused him to look up, and in the hallway off to his right he saw Stephanie and, as always, she looked stunning.

"Stephanie, what-" he began to ask, but she cut him off by excitedly exclaiming

"Welcome to the Relationship Museum 2.0!"

She had that same excited look on her face that she often wore when making a big announcement on the livestream, or when she announced that they were going to bake cookies together, or when she was about to show him something really awesome a fan had posted on Twitter.

He couldn't hold back a soft chuckle at her enthusiasm, "What is going on Steph?"

"Well, I noticed it had been over another 1500 days that we had been together, so I thought that our Relationship Museum might need some updating," She shrugged, a cheeky grin causing her brown eyes to twinkle mischievously.

"But grand romantic gestures of love are more my thing, you didn't have to surprise me like this!"

"I figured it was about time you were on the receiving end of one. Besides, this was so much fun to put together, and I'm the one who knows where we keep everything in this house."

"Hey, I know where most things are!"

"Sure you do," she said with a sceptical look, "Now, let's get started, follow that string!"

"Alright," he said, still laughing slightly at the sheer absurdity of what he had come home to.

Following the red string with his eyes he realised their first stop wasn't far away. It was in the front room, spread across the couch and coffee table that was just on the other side of the half-wall where the chalkboard had been set up.

"I figured that the best way to start this would be to recap the previous version, a sort of "best of" exhibit, not to mention including some items from the proposal itself," Steph said, gesturing to the table. In the centre of the table, and obviously the centrepiece of this area, was a box of glass shards, and in the centre of the shards was the ring box with Stephanie's engagement ring inside.

"I remember how amazingly sweet the night you proposed was, like you tried to play it off but I knew the moment I walked in the door that something more than just another romantic gesture was happening. And just as you were about to get down on one knee I thought I ruined everything by knocking my favourite mirror off the wall. But your theatre major came in handy and instead you proposed regardless, trying not to get a mirror shard in your knee." He noticed the little cue cards she had down in her hand and smiled. Always wanting to be prepared, that was his Stephanie.

"All those improv classes really payed off that evening. Oh hey look, it's Bleu!" He said, rushing over to the couch to cradle the blue bear in his arms.

"Rescuing Bleu was probably the best memory I have from any of the Move Out days at college. Moments like with Bleu really are what I love so much about us. We barely had to say anything when we saw him, there was no question whether we were going to adopt this little bear we found abandoned on top of a garbage can."

"He looked so sad all alone."

"And now with us he never has to be left behind or forgotten again. He's part of our little Ohana."

Also on the table scattered around the mirror shard box were pictures Matthew had used in the first museum, many of which were cringey photos from their college days. They laughed at Matthew's bright suits and bad hair cuts, reminiscing about eating pasta covered in canned tomatoes (and occasionally peas) and subsisting off of stale bread and peanut butter.

The last photo they looked at, ironically, was the first ever picture of the two of them together which Matthew had taken in class one day. Stephanie had gotten cold, so she was wearing his obviously-too-large mustard-coloured corduroy jacket. Not to mention she didn't like having her photo taken, so her delicate hands were positioned across her face. They laughed, remembering the moment and how he had convinced her to take another photo without her hands covering her face, but regardless this was the true first photo of the two of them.

"I was taking selfies before it was cool," Matthew joked.

"Ah yes, because this photo of you just screams fashion forward," Stephanie teased back.

"Touché," he replied. “So that seems to be all there is for us here, what's next?"

"Follow the string and you'll find out."

It didn't lead far, just up to the partition that temporarily split the front room in half. On the way he tried to peak up the hallway to the right, but his wife knew him too well apparently and stopped him before he could even begin.

Hanging off of the top of the impermanent wall were two garment bags he hadn't noticed before. He spent enough time in the recording closet to know very well what they contained, as if the display on the table in front of them didn't give it away. Upon said table was a variety of framed and unframed pictures pulled from all corners of the house, all from their wedding day. Front and centre was the photo which captured the dip kiss they shared after the priest has declared Matthew could kiss the bride. Stephanie knew it was one of his favourite pictures, and he smiled noticing how she had arranged it so that all their favourites were strategically featured in the display.

"Our wedding day is simultaneously one of the best and most stressful days I have in memory. All the anxiety that went into planning wouldn't even match how worked up I was that morning. But everything went well in the end, well almost, but what's a wedding without its hiccups? But despite its minor flaws it is almost definitely the best day of my life so far."

"Almost definitely?"

"Hey, it's got some fierce competition with that Star Trek convention little Stephanie went to," She said, little things in her expression hinting that she wasn't being entirely serious, triggering Matthew's dolphin-like laugh. "But serious answer: travelling with you has created some amazing memories which probably rival our wedding. But more on that later."

"Spoilers, Stephanie!" He pushed her playfully, causing her to stagger with a soft "oh geez!"

Pictures weren't the only thing on the table. Along with a selection of wedding cards they'd received from close family and friends, there was the registry, a collection of random items from the day and a small single sunflower. Matthew had been too distracted by the photos up until that point, so he had hardly noticed the feature flower of their wedding's floral arrangements.

"Aw, a little sunflower," He said, carefully picking it up. "It's so small, look at how tiny this sunflower is!"

Stephanie giggled, and he looked up at her, his big brown eyes full of adoration for the yellow blossom. "I thought you would like it."

Her laughter grew as he tried to find a place for it, realising he had no pockets available so instead tucking it behind his ear.

"Don't laugh Steph, I'm a trendsetter."

"Ah yes, Mr pleated pants, such a trendsetter."

"Hey, it's called character development. I've clearly gotten more fashionable over time."

"Sure buddy," she gave him a sceptical look.

"What?! I so have! Did you even look at those photos on the coffee table?"

"I was just kidding," she laughed. "Speaking of fashion, open up the garment bags."

He did as instructed, already confident of their contents. Sure enough the bag on the left contained a familiar suit while the one on the right held a white, princess-style dress. The very same clothes they had worn on their wedding day.

"Why am I tearing up?" Matthew asked rhetorically, tilting his head upwards and fanning his eyes with his right hand, trying to hold the tears in. Steph laughed, joining in the fanning effort. "You looked so beautiful that day. Well, you look beautiful every day, but on our wedding day you looked unbelievably beautiful."

"Aw, you're so sweet. But it was almost impossible to dance in that dress. Like even the chicken dance was hard, let alone actual dancing. Not to mention how long it took to have my hair and makeup done,” Steph replied, internally groaning at the memory of being stuck in a chair for a couple of hours

"Yeah, sometimes I'm glad I'm male, and that was one of those times. You had so much more to stress over in the lead up to the wedding."

"Oh man, that's so true."

"And yet you pulled it off flawlessly."

"Hmm, that's not quite how I remember it."

After another 5 minutes of memories, they had talked about their wedding for long enough (for today at least) and it was time to move on, least they run out of time to sufficiently explore the whole museum.

Matthew followed the string, which wound its way around to the other side of the partition into Theorist HQ.

And Theorist HQ it was indeed.

The white board was covered with drawings, paintings, sketches and edits from their f-art wall collection, but space was cleared in the middle of the whiteboard to draw a big love heart with the words "Stephanie + Matthew" in the middle in what was obviously Stephanie's elegant script.

The clutter of colour that surrounded it only drew further attention to the area of whiteboard, but then again there was so much going on in this relatively small space that it was hard to know where to look. Covering the table in the middle of the room were pieces of papers, both printed and handwritten, and at the closest end of the table was Matthew's laptop open to a black screen.

All over the right wall were the highest level play buttons they had received for all 3 channels, each with a little piece of paper above with the exact date it had been achieved and then the day the button had finally arrived. Surroundings them was a variety of green, yellow and red streamers, and Matt noticed with a chuckle that Steph had placed a water bottle on top of the gold Game Theory play button.

As he followed the string closer to the table he could see the papers on the table were all letters, emails or tweets collected and printed off from not only fans, but also from other theorists like Ronnie and Goomba, and not only that but from their other YouTube friends such as Jirrard, the Grumps, and Austin, and even some from real life friends from college and family members. As he scanned them he realised they were all talking about their experiences with Steph and his relationship. Some were funny stories, some were short tweets saying what a positive model of a couple they are, others were long form letters and cards which touched on a variety of experiences.

"Aw, Stephanie!" He said, his voice rising in pitch as his hands flew to cover his heart as if it would escape otherwise.

"As important and personal as our relationship is, you can't deny how big of a part YouTube plays in it. I am so incredibly proud of how far you and the channel have come from that first announcement video, and since then you have touched the lives of millions of people all through something you record in a closet."

"Aw, thanks Steph, but you know the channels wouldn't exist without you," he replied, gently placing his hand on her upper arm.

"You know they wouldn’t,” she said with a wink before glancing down at the cue card in her hand. “One of the unique things in our relationship is that we share it with so many people. So many of these messages from Twitter call us "#RelationshipGoals" or say we've helped them have a model of a healthy relationship. And while I'd like to think those are both easily – although perhaps not always - true of our relationship, the fact that so many people look up to our example is astounding. But most importantly we love each other so much and that's what all these people see: not only fans but also friends, colleagues and family. People have even spent hours creating fanart or fanfics about us, and if you had told all this to college Stephanie she would've called you crazy. But our life is crazy! It's one huge group project at the moment, but to me it's the best job in the world because I get to spend time with my best friend in the world."

"Aw Steph that's so sweet."

"Yeah I'm so glad I get to spend so much time with Jason!" She teased, and Matthew gave her a ' _Really?_ ' look. "Just teasing ya', obviously you're my best friend. Jason is maybe in the top 10. But I'm serious that spending so much time with you is awesome, even though we have our ups and downs, our arguments and bad days, but through the rollercoaster working together can be we've worked through it. As we've said to many a fan, communication is key, and that's something we usually do really well. I don't think we've ever broken our promise and gone to bed angry, there's always been a conversation about anything that was on our nerves. That communication, trust and loyalty form some of the defining traits of our relationship and they’re incredibly dear to me."

Matthew subtlety reached out and held Stephanie's hand in his, "I love that too Stephanie. I wouldn't trade anything for the job I have, even if sometimes it causes me stress, anxiety or self-doubt, because you're always there to talk it through, to calm me down, to reassure me. You build me up, Buttercup, but you never let me down."

Stephanie rolled her eyes, smiling as her husband broke out into song. She glanced down at her watch, noting it was 6:47pm, still on time.

"Okay Mister Karaoke, good job take your bows. We have a schedule to stick to."

He finished the last down with an ending reminiscent of that horribly cringe-worthy _It Takes Two_ audition tape before taking a comedically large bow, Steph gasping as he came inches away from hitting his head on the corner of the table, "Thank you, thank you, I'm here pretty much 24/7."

"Unfortunately, we don't have time to read all these letters now, but you could pick a few of them. I haven't read any of them either, so it's a surprise for both of us," Stephanie said, an excited smile lighting up her face as she gestured to the table.

"Only a few? Well I'd better make them good then. But you should get to pick one too if you haven't read any of them."

"Matthew-"

"No, you should pick one," He interjected before she could refuse his offer. "You wouldn't want to ruin my experience, would you?"

He looked at her with big pleading puppy eyes, but for a few seconds it looked like they had no effect. Then he started to pretend to whine, and a tiny hint of a smile crept across her lips. That was all Matthew needed, so he kept pleading like a puppy for a few moments more and then he received the laughter he had been searching for.

"Okay, okay," Steph accepted defeat, laughing as she held out her hands to try to defend herself against PuppyPat, who at this point had gotten on the floor and was nudging against her legs. "Fine I'll pick one, geez! You can stop headbutting my thighs now."

"Good," he said, pulling himself up off the floor, tugging down the hem of his shirt. "Ladies first."

Stephanie knew exactly which letter she wanted to read, so it didn't take her long to find the letter written by Michael Bergen. They laughed (and cried in Matthew's case) their way through the letter from one of their closest non-Team-Theorist-friends. Then Matthew chose his handful: the letters from both Ronnie and Gomba, as well as their parents’ essay-length cards.

"Where are the letters from Chris and Jason?" Matthew asked as he scanned the table for the fourth time.

"You'll see. Let's just focus on these few letters for now, then I have one last thing in this room."

The letters were amazing, as Matthew had expected. Ronnie's was full of sarcasm, in jokes and editing references, which was contrasted by the more thoughtful tone of Gomba, and the cards from both sets of parents were incredibly sweet and heartfelt.

Wiping away hints of tears of joy, Matthew placed the letters down as Steph moved over to the laptop. Matthew quickly pulled up beside her, slipping his arm around her waist. A familiar, yet also unfamiliar, image appeared on screen and their friend's voice came through the speakers clearly.

"Hi Matthew and Stephanie, Ryder aka footofaferret here. Now a while back I made a video on the brief history of Game Theory, but it's a bit outdated at this point. So, when Steph asked me to give the vid an update for a top-secret surprise, I was more than happy to do so! I’ll send another version for you to upload to the channel if you want, but this is your own personalised edition!”

“Ooooh, personalised.”

“Shhhh, you’ll miss part of the video.”

Somehow, Ryder managed to recap all he had said in the previous video AND include tonnes of new content covering all the more recent achievements of the channels, from GTLive to Youtube Rewind, Youtubers React to Game Lab and even hinting at some of their future plans like Global Gamer.

“and to think all this started from one couple living off of basically nothing, who started this to help find a job, the greatest irony of all being that in doing so they would indeed find a job, but not the one they may have expected. As the Theorist channels continue to grow, it just shows how video games, films and more can be used as an educational tool, and how they can bring people together. Here’s to many more years of theorising!

Thanks for watching guys, DFTBA”

“Aw, I love Ryder,” Matthew said as Stephanie closed the laptop

“He’s a sweetie,” she agreed. “Now, I don’t want to rush you, but we don’t want to take too long at any one stop.”

“Alrighty, then where to next?” An enthusiastic grin was plastered over his face, and Steph couldn’t help but feel a warm glow in her heart that Matthew was enjoying something she had spent hours planning and creating.

“Follow the string and you’ll find out,” she hinted, not giving anything away, much to Matt’s combined frustration and intrigue.  

“Then follow the string we shall, onwards!”

 

The string continued on through the archway on the far-right wall that lead through to the combined kitchen/lounge. Matthew tried to look around the room, but his eyes were quickly covered by a pair of dainty hands.

"Spoilers! Matthew!"

"Where am I meant to look then?!"

"Just look at the string for now, okay?"

"Alright," he sighed. From the archway the string led to a medium-sized squarish alcove that held a wooden cabinet and a round table around which sat 4 chairs. The pink glow of the sunset poured through the glass door leading out to the backyard, glinting off the object on the table.

"This exhibit is centred around when we moved to LA, which was - as you know - a tough time for both of us," Stephanie said.

Matthew laughed as he recognised the object sitting in the centre of the table, "I think I know where this one's going."

Of course she had worked that jar of notes into this somehow.

"Well it's what gave me this idea in the first place, so I think it's earnt its place," she replied as if she somehow read his mind, smiling that beautiful affectionate smile Matthew loved so much down at the little glass jar. "Honestly, I think we said everything we needed to about this on that day when I arrived home to you sobbing over a little sticky note, but as a tl;dr it's one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me and marks an important part of our adventure together."

"Nothing makes me happier than making you happy," he said, and Stephanie pretended to vomit, finally reaching her mushiness limits.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop being such a hopeless romantic."

"Like you could stop if you wanted to."

He laughed, knowing she was right. He remembered all too well his previous failed attempts to 'be less of a hopeless romantic'.

A few of the notes were on display outside of the jar, and Matthew smiled as he skimmed over the bunch.

**_Growl_ **

The rumble from Matthew's stomach interrupted the comfortable silence. They both giggled, and Matthew pretended to glare down at his abdomen in disappointment, "Come on Mr Tummy, I was trying to have a nice romantic moment and you had to ruin it?"

"Well I think he might like the next part of the museum then," Stephanie hinted, picking up the red string and offering it to Matthew.

"Finally found the cafeteria, have we?"

"I hope it's a bit better than cafeteria food."

"Well that depends: did you make it?" He teased, earning himself a playful slap on the arm. "Hey! I never said that was a bad thing."

"Just follow the string, Grumbly," she ordered, and he smiled at her faux angry tone, giving her a yes ma'am and following the string as it led into the kitchen just behind the table where they had been standing.

Covering the counter was a range of plates a bowls filled with ingredients. Over at the sink Stephanie lifted up the towel that had been covering a bowl sat in warm water.

Matthew smiled, realising what she had made, "Homemade pizza?"

"One of our favourites," she confirmed, sprinkling flour across a clean area of the bench. It was then he noticed that all the kitchen cupboards were covered in photos of food they'd tried all around the world. He laughed at the prominently featured picture of himself looking at a stick of scorpions with what could only be described as pure terror in his eyes. He pointed it out, and Stephanie looked up from where she was rolling out the dough.

"Just to remind you who the brave one around here is," she joked when asked why she put it there.

Stephanie shook her head as he tried to defend himself, refocusing on the dough. She had almost gotten it perfect when suddenly a splash of flour hit the side of her face.

Gasping in shock as it ran off her cheek, down her clothes and onto the bench, she yelled, "Matthew!" And gently shoved him away as his dolphin-like laughter echoed through the house. She dusted off the flour from her face and clothes, and collected some from the benchtop. With her hand full of white powder she slowly crept towards him, then when she was within arm's reach of his bent over form she smeared the powder all down his back.

"Oh my gosh, Stephanie!" He exclaimed through his laughter. He tried to reach back to dust it off, but she had managed to smear it so some parts were just out of reach.

He lunged for the counter, but Stephanie predicted his move and tried to hold him off despite being considerably smaller than him. She managed to keep him away from the flour covered bench for the first 15 seconds, but he was persistent and eventually managed to briefly touch the bench, then proceeding to give her a smear similar to his.

At this point they were both laughing so hard their faces had started to ache, and had resorted to leaning against the counter and each other to try to remain upright. Matthew hit the ground first, slowly sliding down to the floor as his legs gave up, and it didn't take long for Stephanie to join him. Eventually the laughter began to die down, becoming more drawn out and sigh-like. Then in one rapid movement Steph launched a handful of flour in Matthew's general direction and the laughter picked back up again as flour covered him in various places from head to toe.

"This is going to be such a mess to clean up," she complained mid-laughter, which Matthew for some reason found hilarious.

"Okay, okay," he raised his hands in surrender, "we'll have to stop now or else we'll never get around to having dinner."

"Agreed," Steph replied, wiping laughter induced tears from her eyes. Slowly the couple got back on their feet, but not without almost falling over again from another burst of laughter.

As they got back to work Matthew noticed she was only making one pizza base.

"Will one be enough?"

"Yeah, I'm not feeling super hungry today, plus it should be a pretty big pizza."

"Are you feeling alright?" Matthew asked, placing a hand on her shoulder, concern in his eyes.

"Probably just nerves," she replied, "but I appreciate your concern."

"Alright, just let me know if it gets worse."

Once the base was rolled came the difficult part: deciding what toppings to use.

After lots of back and forth they decided to make one half of the pizza in the Neapolitan style for Stephanie (at Matthew's insistence) and the other half in some strange mix that Matt thought was a good idea (which Stephanie wasn't so sure about).

Once the pizza (and their shoulders (Matthew started it)) had been covered in the desired toppings, it was put in the oven to cook. While they waited, they took time to have a closer look at the display of foods they had tried over the years. Trying new foods was one of their favourite parts of travel after all, and there were photos from all over: Israel, the Vatican City, China, Thailand, Australia, Japan, and more. They were laughing at some unfortunate screenshots from the Japan livestream when a shrill ringing alerted them to their meal being ready.

While Stephanie cut up the pizza Matthew poured diet coke into champagne glasses. There was something about them that made whatever drink you put in there 20 times classier, and today was definitely an occasion which deserved the special treatment.

"Should we move on to the next exhibit while we dine?" She asked, and he knew she probably did so for a reason, so nodded in agreement as he took a bite of pizza.

Walking with food and drink in hand they moved over to the couch. On the table there was barely enough room for the pizza seeing as it was covered in pictures of a certain feline.

"Skee-ip!" Matt exclaimed delightedly, giving a soft aw as he picked up the photo of them taken on the first day they had picked him up. Even though she had chosen and laid out all the photos, Stephanie still felt her heart melt as they looked over them together.

"Getting Skip together was such an amazing occasion, not just for him, but also for us since it was our first "proper" pet together, not to mention your first "proper" pet in general. Seeing you struggle with the errors of first time cat ownership was hilarious, but at least you had me to guide you. Together we've brought up our fur-baby, and although he can be obnoxious and stubborn, you yourself have said he's also intelligent and affectionate, all traits he obviously got from you." Matthew laughed, he had never realised how similar he and Skip were until then.

"I guess we must have been destined to have our little CatPat, although it would be really good if he could stop peeing everywhere."

"Yeah, the laundry basket was really the final straw."

"My rocket raccoon socks will never smell the same," he despaired melodramatically.

"You say that like they smelt good to begin with," Steph replied, raising an eyebrow as she took another bite from her pizza slice.

Matthew just rolled his eyes, giving her a 'seriously?' look, and she snickered, careful to keep her mouth closed so she didn't spray chewed pizza chunks everywhere.

As if right on cue, there was a meow from the hallway to the left and sure enough it was Skip in search of attention, as usual. He jumped up on the couch, only pausing briefly before doing so in order to affectionately rub against their legs. Despite there being no room for him between the couple, he desperately tried to make it so, forcing the two to eventually shift slightly apart. After pacing back and forth between both of their laps and the gap between them he finally settled down on Steph's lap, although that may have merely been an attempt to burgle her slice of pizza.

"Oooh! Wait, I almost forgot," she exclaimed, finishing off her mouthful of pizza and carefully leaning forward to grab something from the table without disrupting Skip. "Ta da!" She said, showing off a very low quality picture featuring two turtles.

"Frog and Toad! Our first pets, aw Stephanie, where did you find this?" Matthew asked. He had been looking for one to use in a theory for ages, but he'd never found it before.

"Trust me, I searched high and low for today's content, so it was in a pretty obscure corner of an old USB."

"Now I just have to find a way to include them in a theory somewhere."

"Unfortunately, I couldn't get in contact with the girl we had given them to, so no turtle update, but I'm sure they are much happier than they would've been had we not rescued them."

"I don't think they would've lived much longer if we hadn't taken them in. Even if we were starving and they cost us all the spare money we had and more, I don't regret it a single bit."

"Me neither," Stephanie agreed, her gaze drifting from the photo to look at her husband. Sometimes it still didn't feel like they were married. Sometimes they were just best friends, sometimes they were something more, sometimes they were partners on a long running group project. It was a strange dynamic their relationship had going on, but that's exactly what she loved about it. They didn't always need to be romantic or sexy to be in love, sometimes just being best friends was enough. Going on Del Taco runs late at night to restock on diet coke and satisfy a taco craving, playing video games together on (and off) the livestream, watching movies with Chris and Jason trying to analyse every little detail for clues. All of those things weren't necessarily romantic, but they were some of the most cherished things in her life. It was out-of-character for her to do some grand sweeping gesture like this, it's true, but this wasn't purely romantic, it was a celebration of all the kinds of love they held for each other.

"Steph?" Matthew's voice drew her out of her thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry, I got kind of lost in thought," she apologized, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

"It's alright, I was just rambling anyway," he said with a soft laugh. It was enough for him to see his wife's excitement at showing him something she had put so much effort into. He noticed that she was twirling her hair around her finger much more than usual, indicating she was nervous. It was strange yet comforting to realise you knew how someone felt just from a tiny gesture.

They kept talking, sharing their favourite memories of Skip and even of pets they'd had before they met. Soon enough the pizza was gone, their glasses were empty and Skip had run off to nap on a comfy chair. Steph insisted she be the one to take the dirty dishes over to the dishwasher, and as much as his inner white knight would've liked to have done it he knew she was determined to make today extra special.

"Where to next?"

"You’ll just have to wait and see, but I think you could guess."

And considering there were very few rooms left unexplored on this story of the house it wouldn't be hard to guess (especially since one of those rooms was a bathroom).

 

Surely enough, when Steph re-joined him and they followed the string it led to the room he had been thinking of: the old livestreaming room. It looked different now without the GTLive set covering the room. Instead it was used as a guest room and storage space, a sofa bed in the place of the livestreaming couch and a few boxes of bits and bobs littered around the edge of the room. The string led right to the couch, which was covered in a variety of items, most notably a bunch of clothes but also some other random things. Stephanie immediately picked up what Matthew recognised as the scrapbook she had been working on recently.

"So this is what you've been secretly working on."

"It wouldn't be much of a surprise if you knew what it was buddy."

"Very true," he agreed. "So, what is it?"

"Being YouTubers has led to some awesome experience and meeting awesome people, so I decided to scrap book what I guess you could call a bit of a highlights reel of the opportunities we've had," she said opening the scrapbook to the first page.

The whole book was filled with creative pages, all themed around the event shown in the pictures on that page. From Nintendo to The Runner, Vidcon to The Walking Dead, Warcraft Capture the Flag irl to a Youtuber collab page, Steph had been incredibly thorough in ensuring she had covered all bases. He could’ve literally spent hours pouring over each pages, reminiscing and studying the little details, but that was for another day when there was a whole other floor of museum that they were both anxious to explore before it became unreasonably late.

Giving the scrapbook an affectionate hug (and then also Stephanie after she shot him a look), Matthew set it down on the couch and left it behind along with the Youtube Rewind tracksuit and collection of Team Theorist shirts.

The string raced its way up the stairs, and the couple followed it closely as it led into one of the upstairs rooms which (again) was usually just used for storage. But instead of only boxes and random pieces of furniture, the blue and black globe of the world from downstairs sat in the middle of the room, and every available surface around the room was covered with photos from their adventures. Pictures sat in frames on top of boxes and tables and chairs, and others plastered the surfaces of the boxes and walls. From the middle of the room they were literally surrounded by pictures from around the world. Their pictures.

"Wow." It was all he could manage to say, and Stephanie couldn't help but agree silently, even though she had put this together (with some help).

"One question I can distinctly remember you asking me is what my dream in life is. What's that one thing that I have a real passion for, that would really make me feel like I had achieved something in life. I responded-"

"That you want to travel to 100 countries within your lifetime, and not just to do tourist-y things but get to know the people and culture of a place, figure out what makes it unique and grow from that as a person."

Matthew practically melted as Stephanie smiled at him, a rare glimpse of absolute adoration slipping into her eyes.

"Exactly," she agreed before continuing on, "Being the amazing person you are, we've taken as many chances as possible to travel and explore the world together, from more tame adventures to local mountains as poor college students to fully-fledged trips to the other side of the world. I treasure each journey I get to make by your side, you truly know just how to make a vacation special. Even though I'm better  at planning, and even though flights with you may be considered a form of torture by some, your outgoing nature and sense of spontaneity balance out my careful planning and sometimes a tad too shy demeanour. The fact that you are always so keen to support my dream as much as possible is incredibly sweet, especially considering your chronic fear of travel via plane, and setting out photos from our adventures in this way has shown me literally how far you'd go for me, which I know is “to the ends of the galaxy if I so desired”. So, look around and enjoy the memories, and here's to exploring even more in the months and years to come."

Turning around to take in her work, Steph didn't see the hug coming and yelped in surprise when her husband's arms encircled her, lifting her up off the ground.

"Matthew! Be careful!" She cried as he swung her around gently, the two of them laughing. "Matthew I'm serious, do you know how long it took to set this up?"

Hearing the serious tone amongst her laughter, he reluctantly set her down.

"Probably at least 10 minutes I'd say," he joked, making a melodramatic thinking face.

"Oh my gosh," she muttered, shaking her head. It was times like this she wondered how she put up with her husband almost 24/7.

"You know I'm kidding," he grinned at her, and she couldn't decide whether to roll her eyes at his pleasure in irritating her or return his smile with her own. She almost went for the latter, but Matthew had seen an opportunity that he wasn't going to miss.

Grabbing her shoulder, he got close to her side before pulling her around to face the majority of the room, dramatically stretching out his arm as he began to sing, "I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid."

"Oh geez," she said, burrowing her face into her hands. But Matthew was undeterred, lifting her face from its hiding place as he continued singing,

"Tell me Princess Stephanie, when did you last let your heart decide?"

"You're a complete dork."

"I can open your eyes, take you wonder by wonder! Over, sideways and under on a magic carpet ride.

A whole new world! A new fantastic point of view. No one to tell us no, or where to go, or say we're only dreaming." He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to continue with the next lyrics like she had done many times before.

For a second it looked like Steph wouldn't bite, but after a second a voice in her head reminded her she was doing this for him and so she sighed and joined the duet, "A whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew. But when I'm way up here, it's crystal clear, now I'm in a whole new world with you."

As the song continued, their voices joined together, weaving and overlapping as they sung the lyrics they knew off by heart. As they went along, Stephanie's hesitation melted away, and they added the silly interpretative-dance-esque choreography they had made up years ago, laughing at the unfolding absurdity as their voices echoed through the house. After a minute of ridiculousness the song came to a close, and as they harmonised the last notes Stephanie realised her head was resting against his shoulder, his arm circled around her waist rather than her shoulders. It felt natural and reminded her of years ago, singing this song on a double bed in a tiny apartment, when traveling overseas seemed like an unrealistic dream. And here they were, surrounded by photos from around the world, photos they had taken. Matthew noticed the look in his wife's eyes, one of pure passion and joy. This room was filled with her dream, he could tell from how every picture was placed just so, how the pictures almost seemed to tell a story, the words spilling out of the images. He could feel the humidity of South East Asia, and smell the ocean breeze of the Australian Great Ocean Road. He felt the stillness of Roman cathedrals and the bustle of Chinese marketplaces, could hear the loud hum of Tokyo traffic and sense the blinding neon lights that shone from every building. Stephanie had a gift for capturing every place they travelled to. There were always a handful of her pictures that seemed almost alive with their subject. He knew the room would probably stay like this for a few weeks, and he'd find her in here, curled up with Skip and a cup of tea, working away on her laptop.

After a few more quiet moments, Matthew broke the silence and together they began exploring the room, pointing out funny photos she had hidden amongst the others of one or more of them doing something ridiculous.

"Yeah, kangaroos are surprisingly intimidating," He agreed looking at a photo from Australia of the two of them and one of the mildly terrifying marsupials.

"I mean, this guy was pretty chilled, but some of the others I had my concerns about."

The next photo was the last, one he knew she had picked specifically for him. It had been his laptop background for months despite it's simplicity. Just the sun setting over the ocean, the two of them sitting at a picnic table to the left of frame.  They had their backs to the camera facing out towards the ocean, but you could still see that Stephanie's head was resting on his shoulder. It was a peaceful picture, a memory of his favourite evening from that vacation. Just a quiet moment watching the sun set with his wife, a small amount of chatter between simply listening to the waves crash onto the shore. Just like on that evening they didn't need words to communicate, the gentle intertwining of their fingers and soft kiss he planted on Stephanie's forehead were more than enough. Eventually Steph was the one to look at her watch and exclaim something about running behind schedule. He thought it was funny how she always planned these things out so thoroughly, but the skill definitely came in handy when running multiple YouTube channels.

By now Matthew didn't need to be told to pick up the red string and follow it. He could practically feel Stephanie bouncing with excitement, which was fairly uncommon for her so he knew they must be getting close to something really exciting.

It didn't take him long to realise the string was headed straight for one of the most obvious locations: the current GTLive room. Theories filled his brain as to what awaited him, but his wife had been careful not to give any clues. But when he reached the room he found it set up basically as if they were about to livestream, only there was no hum of the tricaster or blinking red lights from the camera. But something was on the TV screen. Almost reading his mind, Stephanie stepped over to Jason's computer and pressed play.

The black screen faded away and in it's place was a video of this room, only it wasn't himself and Stephanie on the couch, it was Jason and Chris.

"Hello Matt and Steph, and welcome to GTLive." The two men said in unison, laughing slightly as they spoke.

"Well not really GTLive, but a highlights reel of GTLive so far," Jason clarified.

"When Stephanie approached us about this secret project, how could we say no?" Chris asked with a cheeky grin.

"But she only gave us 10-15 minutes, and we'll undoubtedly be over by at least 5 minutes, so without further delay let's get to the clips!"

They hadn't been able to resist including the beginning of the first ever GTLive, much to Matthew's frustration (and Stephanie's amusement) and from there it took a wild journey through the history of GTLive, cleverly editing together important moments like the first #BlameJason, Dallas the pizza delivery girl, the origins of the clap and a half, the creation of FatPat and Paris a La, and a wide variety of other memorable GTLive clips. From robbing children of diet coke to eating/drinking nasty foods/drinks to jumpscares to rage hair to dorky dancing and beyond, somehow the video managed to encapsulate the essence of GTLive in a way which made Matthew smile uncontrollably. This was something he had created which had somehow positively impacted thousands of people. The livestream (usually) made all involved feel so much happier, and if nothing else he hoped his videos would achieve two things: education and entertainment. And GTLive often did them both, even if it sometimes resulted in awkward situations for Matthew and Stephanie. But they didn't mind, for as much as GTLive was a ray of sunshine to their loyal theorists, so was it to them. He had to hand it to Jason and Chris for capturing that sunshine and condensing it into this video, then again if anyone could do it, it would be those two, having between them been there for almost every single livestream. Diverting his attention to his wife he noticed she had a similarly massive smile plastered to her face, only her's was far more beautiful. The way it emphasised her adorable round cheeks and danced across her eyes was enchanting, leaving him once more wondering how he ended up with a woman who was so impossibly amazing.

After 18 and a half minutes, the last clip faded out to once again reveal the faces of their little tech crew.

"We hope you guys enjoyed that trip through GTLive history! I know we enjoyed putting it together," Chris exclaimed, the light catching on his red nail polish as he gestured.

"As the two people that arguably have to put up with your adorableness the most, I think we can certainly say you are every bit the #relationshipgoals we often see the internet attribute to you," Jason said with a touchingly honest smile.

"I guess you could say #Jasonconfirms," Chris joked, holding his fingers up in a hashtag sign, causing the couple to laugh at the screen. "But in all seriousness, you guys are such a power couple, like you know how to get things done, but also how to have fun."

"Not to mention all tiny gestures of love you two give each other all the time. You guys are almost too cute of a couple sometimes, although obviously not as cute as Gen and I."

"But enough about you, as now is the perfect time to say thank."

Both men managed to hold the silence for a second before bursting into laughter just like their bosses.

Jason was the one to bring it back in after a second, "Thank you guys so much for all the awesome memories and allowing me to invade your house all the time. It has truly been an honour working with you so far, and I look forward to where the future takes us."

"And thank you for giving me the opportunity to join the team and really making me feel a sense of belonging and home even though I was the new guy."

"That's about all for now, so thanks for watching and remember that's just a compilation…"

The two men glanced at each other before continuing in unison, "A GTLive compilation! Thanks for watching.

"Aw, that was so sweet, but also incredibly cringe worthy," Matthew spoke-sang and Steph had to laugh in agreeance.

"I don't know why people watch GTLive, honestly," She joked.

"Maybe they watch for the cringe factor?"

"Probably!"

"We need to thank Jason and Chris for that though. And maybe upload an edited version to Archiveland."

"Oooh, yes!" Steph said, clapping her hands excitedly. "Now, I could spend this time blabbing on about how much I love GTLive and being your co-host, but the video already ran almost 5 minutes too long and you already know how much it brightens the day just hanging out playing games with you and Jason and Chris and all the awesome GTLive viewers."

Again, she was twirling her hair around her finger, winding it so tight her fingers almost turned white around the brown strands.

He nodded, subtly putting a comforting arm around her. "And you know I love GTLive too."

"Alrighty then, we're nearing the end of the museum! So, let's a go!" She cheered giving her best Mario impression.

The string lead them in the direction of their room, but he noticed that it first detoured to the bathroom across the hall and he knew all too well why. The red thread snaked across the tiled floor and into the closet to the right, the current incarnation of the recording closet.

It led all the way to his recording area, where an open laptop was ready to play one final video.

"This one is from me," Stephanie said softly as they moved towards the laptop, anxiousness colouring her voice.

He intertwined his fingers in hers, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, "I'm sure it's perfect and I'll be crying any second now."

"I'm prepared," she said pulling out a tissue box, drawing a soft laugh from her husband.

"I'm such a sap," he said, shaking his head while pre-emptively pulling out a handful of tissues.

"Press play whenever you're ready, ya big softie."

Slightly nervously he got into a comfortable position on the floor, pulling the laptop down on top of his lap and Stephanie snuggling up beside him, her hands practically racing through her brown waves at this point.

Then he pressed play.

Immediately he recognised the two notes being played on a guitar. He couldn't help the smile as he listened to the familiar intro of Chasing Cars.

The screen remained black for a moment before white text in a familiar font appeared across the screen:

 

Hey best friend,

We've been dancing,

And I hope we've made each other happy at least most days.

We've certainly been schleepy otter friends…

And Tuttle Spoons

And Cuddly Pandas!

We've continued to torment Michael by being cutesy face,

And have watched many a romantic British period drama.

We might not own any coach purses,

But honestly I'd rather spend the money on vacations!

We tried to enjoy being poor, but it didn't last too long (thank goodness!)

We've spent so many holidays together from Christmas to Flag Day,

And I've cherished every one!

We've continued to argue over toilet rolls,

And scared each other with numerous household items including oven mitts.

We've pretended to be fancy at the opera,

And I'd like to think that we're pretty much Tea Experts at this point.

We've played Mario Party on the same team, although it's more fun when it's a competition.

And have used each other as human shields through scary movies and video games (TGISGF!)

There have been many back rubs to ease the pain of staring at a screen all day,

And we've built fires in the winter (and when the power's out)

And had our fair share of apple cider.

You even managed to get me on Top Thrills Dragster!

We've learnt a bit of Italian,

And travelled a fair amount of the globe (though I still can't wait to see more!)

We escaped New York!!!

And decorated a home of our own

Which contains our non-allergenic cat Skip

And even has a backyard

With a real patio!

And our mattress is finally larger than a twin!

Together we've started traditions

And broken traditions.

We're still working on the growing old together thing,

But it's safe to say the internet is fairly sure we'll be a cute old couple.

I love you more everyday,

And you frequently remind me of how much more you love me everyday.

And while we've taken less home videos, I think GTLive more than compensates.

Thank you so much for another 1500 days of amazing memories!

I truly do enjoy every day spent by your side,

And want things to be that way for the rest of my life!

Even if we have to make sacrifices, you said it yourself:

"The best adventure is being together"

So, Matthew Robert Fear Danger Impossible Patrick,

Here's to many thousands more days spent together,

Adventuring, theorising, and making far too many bad puns along the way!

I love you ❤

 

As the music and final words faded away, Matthew slowly came back to reality. Somehow a bunch of words on a screen had made him feel an inexplicable amount of emotions. Maybe it was because he knew they held such a weight, each the long-awaited update from proposals made hundreds of days ago. Suddenly he noticed the tears that has filled his eyes and left trails down his cheeks.

"Gosh darn it Steph," he said, wiping away the tears while sniffing, only for the tears to return as he felt her arms around him.

His Stephanie. His beloved, beautiful Stephanie.

"I really do love you, even though I'm not always as openly lovey-dovey and flirtatious as you. I mean it when I say I want to spend every day I have left on this Earth by your side as your wife and best friend."

"And I want to spend every day by your side, Stephanie dearest. You don't need to be lovey-dovey or flirtatious for me to know that. You say it more than you know, just not out loud. But who needs words to communicate anyway."

"Talking is so overrated," she agreed, rolling her eyes melodramatically.

Matthew, being the joker he is, saw this as an opportunity to point to his eye, then his heart and then Steph, earning another eye roll from the brunette, but he saw the smile she was trying to hide.

A soft silence filled the air, full of unspoken words of love. Each couldn't believe they'd managed to find the other, couldn't believe they'd found what so many others spend a lifetime searching for.

For years all Stephanie had ever wanted to do in life was explore the world. And while that was still her dream, in many ways Matthew was her world. She could travel to every country in the world twice, but if it was without him she wouldn't ever feel satisfied.

Matthew knew what it felt like to have his dream crushed. Heck, Steph had been there as his practically lifelong dream of performing on the stage fell to pieces. But through it all, she had been his constant companion. And when the metaphorical mirror of his dream smashed, she became his new dream. As long as they were together, Matthew was the happiest man in the world. Not always, but there were very few days where the beautiful woman he loved so dearly couldn't cheer him up.

Eventually Stephanie exited the dream-like realm they had entered for a moment and gently broke the silence, "There's still one more exhibit left."

Shaking off the haze of his thoughts, Matthew offered his arm, "Shall we?"

The string didn't lead far, it's trail disappearing under their closed bedroom door.

"Ready?" Steph asked, and the anxiety in her voice made him unsure exactly who she was asking.

"You make it sound like I should be worried."

"Maybe you should be," she teased, but something was off in her tone.

He turned the knob of their door, pausing for a moment, a thousand questions about what lay behind the door in his head. Suddenly he flung the door open, preparing for a surprise.

And I guess it was a surprise.

The room look totally normal except for the red string and something golden on the bed.

Curiosity taking over, he moved quickly into the room. As he got closer to the bed it became apparent that it was in fact a small golden box that sat in the middle of their dark aqua throw rug.

"Unfortunately, there were no theorist green ones in that size," Steph smiled as she came up to his side.

"Is this for me?"

"It's for both of us, I suppose."

He tilted his head to the side like a confused puppy.

"Steph, you've really got to stop being so cryptic, you know nothing gets me more curious than a good mystery."

"That's exactly why I'm mysterious," she said with a wink that sent his heart racing. "Go on, open it."

Both thought their heartbeats must have been easily audible as Matthew picked up the golden gift box, undoing the red string bow that tied it up. He mentally noted the light-medium weight, trying to figure out what it could be. He shook it, causing a rattle, but not an easily identifiable one.

"This feels like that 1 2 Switch game where you have to guess the balls in the box," he said nervously as he prepared to open it.

Carefully he removed the lid, revealing bright green tissue paper. Both held their breath as he pulled back the green to reveal…

Another box.

Only this box was packaging. Picking it up, he hardly believed his eyes as he read the words printed in bold baby blue:

Pregnancy Test

Time seemed to freeze as it felt like every possible emotion and thought in the universe raced through his mind. For only the 7th time in his life, Matthew Patrick was literally completely speechless.

"Matthew?" The gentle voice of his wife brought him out of his packet-staring trance.

"I… We're… You're-"

"Well I don't know yet, I wanted us to do this together." She placed her hands on his, a nervous smile covering her face that he was sure was echoed on his. He couldn't help but glance at her stomach, which still looked as flat as always.

"What are we waiting for then. Let's go ace this test!"

Stephanie couldn't help but laugh at the goof that stood next to her, "You are such a dork."

"You know what it means if that's positive."

"We're going to have a screaming, pooping, crying, vomiting baby in less than 9 months?"

"Well yes, but also I'd be a father-to-be. You know what that means?"

"What?"

"So. Many. Dad jokes."

Steph groaned as they crossed the hall back into the bathroom, "Maybe we shouldn't have a child after all, save them from the torture of your sense of humour."

"Excuse me, I think you'll find my jokes are delightful, not a form of pun-ishment," he replied with a wink.

"Oh my gosh," she sighed. "Now leave me alone so I can pee on this stick."

"But why not keep me around? I mean, ur-ine good company."

"Out!"

"Alright, alright, geez." He surrendered as the petite brunette pushed him out into the hall (or tried to anyway).

 

Four minutes later Stephanie sat perched on the edge of the bath as Matthew paced through the room.

"How long does this stupid thing take anyway?" He huffed.

"Well the instructions said 5 minutes."

"Hasn't it been at least 10 minutes already?"

"Nope, still another-" she glanced down at the timer on her phone - "38 seconds."

He groaned, leaning his body into the wall face first. "I'm pretty sure this is the longest 5 minutes of my life."

A pair of hands landed on his shoulders, skimming the surface of his leather jacket as they rubbed comfortingly, "Well, it's not much longer now."

It was subtle, but he could hear the nervous edge in her voice, that slight falter, the hint of something beneath her words that agreed with him. But she was the more level-headed logical one of the pair, and so felt it was her duty to remain calm even when she felt anxious. She thought he didn't notice, but he did. Well, sometimes. Besides, she'd share her feelings with him if it became an issue, wouldn't she?

"Hello, Earth to Matthew?" A hand in front of his face jerked him out of his thoughts.

"Huh? Sorry, I got a bit lost in thought."

"I know."

"What were you saying?"

"I said it's almost time to check the test."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, let's see if there's a bun in the oven," she smiled, moving her hands down his arms and intertwining her right hand with his left.

"I almost don't want to look." He said, staring apprehensively at the upside-down piece of plastic.

"Me too." He felt a gentle hand squeeze, but wasn't sure which one of them it was meant to be comforting.

"On three?"

"Like a bandaid."

"One, two, three, flip!"

Lines.

Two pink lines.

Matthew was the first to stutter a response, "Stephanie, there are lines. That means it's positive, right? That means…"

"Yes Matthew, it does mean."

"WE'RE GOING TO BE PARENTS! I'M GOING TO BE A DAD! Holy cow, oh man." He ran around the room hollering for joy, Steph laughing at the man-child who was now a father-to-be. Suddenly Stephanie was engulfed in simultaneously the biggest and also gentlest hug she had ever experienced in her life. He was obviously overly aware of the precious gift she was growing (which was incredibly weird and mildly disgusting if she thought about it too hard).

"We're going to be parents!" she repeated, her forehead crinkling as the joy spread over her face.

"I love you so much Stephanie Patrick."

"I love you more Matthew Patrick."

"I'm not so sure about that, it must be impossible to love someone more than I love you. Then again, I prove myself wrong every day, since every day I love you more."

"Oh my gosh, that's disgustingly sappy," she groaned.

"That's why you love me," he grinned at the face pressed into his shoulder.

"Sure it is," she said, rolling her eyes before giving him a reassuring peck on the cheek.

Matthew couldn't stop his gaze from lowering to her still flat stomach as she took a step back. Without thinking twice, he knelt down and pressed him head against her abdomen, almost as if he expected to hear something other than a stomach rumble.

"Hey little buddy," he said softly, the joy on his face almost bringing tears to Stephanie's eyes. "I hope you're doing all right in there, I've heard tell of some pretty crazy levels of mitosis going on in there."

"We're such nerds, this poor child," Steph sighed jokingly.

"This child will be the luckiest child on the planet because it will have the best mother ever."

"Matthew, you know I don't have a maternal bone in my body."

"What about Skip?"

"He's different, he isn't human."

"So?"

"So, a human child will be completely different!"

"I still think you'll be the best mom the world has ever seen."

"You're biased," she said, pushing him away and staring back down at the two pink lines on the plastic test. Stephanie hadn't felt this emotionally confused since when she met Matthew in college all those years ago. Some would take that as a good sign, but she already was convinced her child would hate her, if it even survived that long with her parenting skills.

"What about the channels and the livestreams and-" A gentle kiss stopped her frantic stammering and she felt her husband's arms surround her once more, rubbing her back soothingly.

"We'll deal with all that later, for now let's just celebrate that a little BabyPat is on the way," he said, his smile still so huge and impossibly happy that she couldn't help but smile too, her anxiety slowly receding into deeper areas of her mind, undoubtedly saving itself for late at night.

"Alright," she replied, and Matthew somehow became even happier at the honest smile that lit up her features.

"So, what do you think: boy or girl?"

Steph thought for a moment, untangling herself from his arms and staring at her stomach, trying to get some telepathic connection going, "I think it's a boy."

"Well good because I was going to guess girl."

"So it's a competition?"

"Loser takes the winner out on a date."

"Deal," she agreed and they shook hands, grinning like fools but with fierce competition glowing in their eyes.

"Looks like you're taking me to Disneyland," he said with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, sure I am," she replied sarcastically.

"BabyPat is definitely a girl."

"Are we seriously going to use that nickname?"

"The chat will, so why not?"

Steph rolled her eyes, "I am so coming up with a better nickname for our child."

"I'm not sure you could beat BabyPat," Matthew teased.

"It sounds stupid."

He gasped in mock horror, "Are you calling our baby stupid?"

"No, but your naming conventions are."

"Stephanie, I am deeply hurt," Matthew said, calling upon the melodramatic flare of his theatre background, a hand flying up to his "injured" heart. This earnt him a shove and a groan from his wife, and he laughed as he stumbled backwards a few steps.

"Alright, alright, I'll stop with the teasing. But hey Steph, one and done, nice job," he said, holding his hand up for a high five.

"I mean, it was a team effort but I'll take the complime- Ew your hands are so sweaty!" She had gone to give him the high five only to retract her hand the second it met his.

"Hey, waiting to know if your wife is pregnant will do that to you."

"You're a dork."

"And you love me for it," he said, beginning to snake his arms around her waist but finding his hands pausing the second they touched her stomach. Just underneath his fingertips was a growing child, his -no- _their_ growing child. Honestly for once he didn't care so much if he lost a bet, because all he cared about was that in less than 9 months he'd be holding their child in his arms, brown eyes staring up at him. Maybe she'd have his faint hint of lighter green tone to the middle of her little irises, only glinting when the light hit at just the right angle. Or perhaps it would be a little boy with Stephanie's beautiful darker brown locks. Or maybe her cute nose, or adorable chin, or beautiful eye shape. Either way he now realised he hoped their child got more of Stephanie's looks than his own. Then again either way he or she was practically doomed to be cursed with glasses, acne and braces in their teen years (something he already felt bad about).

"Matthew?" He snapped back to reality to once again find Steph giving him a curious look. "You okay there buddy?"

"Yeah, it's just given me a lot to think about."

"It sure has. How about we head downstairs, watch a Disney movie and call it a night?" she suggested.

"Can we have ice cream?" He asked quietly, and Stephanie was again reminded of how much of a child her husband could be at times.

"Sure," she laughed, "What should be watch, Up or Aladdin?"

"I'd watch anything without a single complaint as long as you’re by my side."

"That is such a lie, if you didn't like the movie you would tear it to pieces."

"True, but hey, it's kind of our job."

"Alright, MatPat," she said, putting emphasis on his online persona’s name. "I'll go get some ice cream from the kitchen, you set up the movie."

 

Snuggled up on the couch they sat and watched the movie, sometimes singing along, other times watching and occasionally shifting around when Skip decided he needed to change position. The whole time Matthew kept resting his hand on the non-existent baby bump, smiling each time he remembered the positive pregnancy test that was still sitting on the bathroom sink upstairs.

"Thank you, Stephanie," he said softly.                      

"What for? You did your fair share too."

He laughed at her misunderstanding, "I meant for the rest of the surprise."

"Oh, right. That was my pleasure. I really wanted to make today special for you, and I figured what better way to do it than updating the Museum before we enter our next chapter."

"As if you weren't already stuck with me forever, you really are now," he joked.

"Oh no, what a horrible fate," Stephanie replied in her high-pitched princess voice.

"A most unfortunate fate indeed, forever cursed to suffer an excess of theories and bad puns."

"That doesn't sound too bad to me," the character voice had melted away, and she guided his lips to meet with hers in a short and sweet kiss.

They soon refocused (as much as was possible anyway) on the movie, enjoying their first night of knowing it wasn't just the couple and their cat anymore.

**A/N: Hello dearest readers!**

**First things first, thank you for waiting patiently AND then making it all the way through this monster. I’m not sure how it became so ginormous, but that, combined with my life going crazy (uni work, a musical, a first date and so much other random stuff), is probably why I’ve been working on it since February (earlier if you include when I came up with this idea and began brainstorming). So hopefully all the time has paid off and you’ve enjoyed the one shot/ continuation of the ‘string’ that I’ve created.**

**Of course, there is more to the ‘string’ of one shots, and now it probably makes sense why I’m linking them, since they’ll all follow this story. But the next thing I’ll update this “Can you really call it a one shots collection anymore?” thing with is probably another round of OTP prompts, followed by another from the string or maybe a shorter one if I come up with a cute idea that won’t take several months to write. However, I am coming up to the end of semester for uni so things might get a bit hectic and it might take a while for me to update. I know you’ll be patient, you already have been and I appreciate that so much!**

**If you ever have any questions/suggestions/just want to chat there’s not only the comments and message feature on here, but you can also find me as LarkSweetsong on Twitter and now also on Tumblr! I can’t thank you all enough for all the love and support you give me, it truly is wonderful and I love you all!**

**So, until we meet again, I hope you have a wonderful day/week/month, and I’ll see you in the next chapter!**

**~Lark~**


	7. Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars

 

Thanksgiving was easily Matthew's favourite holiday, hands down, no questions about it. Seeing family and friends, being thankful for everything one has, plus eating as much food as physically possible; what's not to love?

That hadn't stopped him from being terrified about it this year. Not only was he far away from his family in Ohio, but he was instead in North Carolina. To make things even more terrifying he was spending the holiday with his girlfriend Stephanie's family for the first time.

However, somehow things hadn't been a total train wreck, he even had made a good impression on Steph's grandparents.

And now he and Stephanie had thrown on every scarf, sweatshirt and coat they had with them before trekking out into the cold night air. Steph had suggested they go for a walk to a nearby park, and Matt had agreed it sounded lovely. As soon as they left sight of her house, Matthew felt a weight slip off him, finally away from the scrutinising eyes of his girlfriend's family. For the first time in hours, maybe days even, it truly was just the two of them.

With a hint of shyness, he slid his fingers between hers, still marvelling at how even in gloves their hands fit together like two pieces in a satisfying game of Tetris.

A shy silence filled the air, as neither was quite ready to speak. They had barely been dating over a month, but seeing as they'd been friends for many months now Steph had felt it'd be rude to not invite him to Thanksgiving, especially considering he had no plans to return to Ohio for the occasion.

"So, did you go to this park often as a child?" His curiosity broke the quiet, his breath catching like fog in the cold air.

"Yeah, pretty often. When I wasn't playing with the neighbourhood kids or off exploring the forest behind my house, if I was outside I was probably at the park." A smile of fond memories played at her lips.

"I loved the park near my house growing up because it had the best playground. Swings, multiple slides, you name it, it felt like the playground was sure to have it."

"Yeah, the playground here has certainly had an update since my days," she said, nodding to the colourful metal and plastic construction that shone in the moonlight, a faint hint of snow still embedded in some areas giving off a glint of white. Briefly Matthew's mind suggested it looked somewhat like the cheeky glint Stephanie would sometimes get in her eyes.

Silence settled between them again, but it was the comfortable quiet in which everything felt at peace. The slightly orange lights of the park gave everything a soft glow and made every small patch of ice shimmer.

There was a quaint bench right near the middle of the park facing the pond where a few brave ducks were still paddling around in the icy waters. Together they spread out the rug they had brought with them out on the bench before sitting down, Matthew wrapping his arm around Stephanie and pulling her close. In the stillness, he was sure they could both hear his rapidly beating heart, which still practically had a heart attack anytime he and Steph touched.

"Thank you so much for inviting me over for Thanksgiving Steph, it really means a lot to me. Your family are lovely, just as I imagined considering how lovely you are. I really hope I managed to make a good impression between stuffing my face with turkey and accidentally burning my toast because a certain someone caught my eye," his free hand ran through his hair as he remembered the many ways he had managed to embarrass himself over the past few days.

But then Stephanie laughed, and he couldn't hold back his smile at the adorable sound. She really was the most beautiful person on the planet.

"From what they've told me so far, they all like you quite a bit, despite your goofiness," she said, a grin spread across her face from the joyful memories. "Besides, when you weren't making a fool of yourself, you were really helpful and considerate, and had some really interesting discussions. And I think some of my relatives enjoyed your puns a bit too much."

"Come on, you've got to admit that they were pretty good puns."

"Is "good" ever really the appropriate word to describe a pun?" She raised an eyebrow in question.

"Apparently it is when _you_ make a pun," he shot back.

"That's because all of my jokes are amazing, puns included," she stated.

"Sure, you keep telling yourself that," Matt replied, which quickly earnt him a slap to the arm.

"Hey!"

Despite all his acting skills he couldn't hold in the defensive laugh, "I take it back, I take it back!"

"It's too late for that now Matthew, my feelings are forever hurt," she said with a dramatic sniffle, pretending to wipe tears from her eyes.

"How about a compromise? Most of your jokes are amazing. Not all, but most."

"As long as you accept that none of your puns are good."

"I certainly can, for everyone knows the best puns are the worst puns."

"Isn't that kind of a contradiction by definition?"

"Stephanie don't question well known laws of the universe."

She giggled at his absurdity, "you're a strange man, Matthew Patrick."

"You know you like it."

"That I do," she said, and with a soft smile they settled into a happy silence once more.

The lack of city lights in the area meant the night sky was dotted with more stars than back on campus at Duke. In some ways, it reminded Matthew of his hometown, little Medina Ohio. His thoughts drifted to his parents, hoping they were safe and enjoying the holiday, probably with some of his extended family. It felt strange not being with his parents for Thanksgiving, but at the same time it was so natural to be celebrating with Steph and her family. Well, especially with Steph.

All weekend his mind had kept seeing flashes of a future with her, and she had barely been out of his thoughts for more than a few seconds. She drove him crazy, how could she be so calm about it all when he just wanted to shout from the rooftops how wonderful she was?

"Hey, look! A shooting star!" Steph cried, pointing up to the night sky frantically.

"Make a wish!" He exclaimed, not wanting it to be wasted, even if his eyes hadn't caught a glimpse of it, didn't mean it should go unwished upon.

"What a shame that you missed it," she sighed, but there was something in the slight tilt of her lips Matthew recognised.

"Wait, was there actually a shooting star?" He asked, and he saw her facial muscles quiver into a smile for a fraction of a second before she composed herself once more.

"Of course there was! Just because you didn't see it doesn't mean you have to call me a liar."

"But I think it is a lie."

"No, it's not," again she smiled ever so slightly.

"Yes, it is!"

"Noit'snot."

"You were just pretending to see a shooting star!"

"No, I wasn't!" Their eyes locked, searching for the truth in pools of brown. It didn't take long for Matthew to notice the tell-tale mischievous glint in her eyes, accompanied by a hint of nerves.

But looking into her eyes was like falling down a rabbit hole.

Suddenly it felt so much more intimate, like he was seeing into her. Matthew had read that staring into someone's eyes could make you fall in love and suddenly he realised how true it was.

Without even thinking, the two leaned closer, heads tilting almost curiously. Suddenly Steph tore her gaze away, a faint dusting of pink colouring her cheeks as she wrapped a strand of hair around her fingers. Matt was sure his cheeks were probably a similar shade, despite years of leaving shame at the door doing theatre.

"Pretty sure since you looked away first it means I was right," He teased softly, his voice gentle in the fragile atmosphere their… whatever that was... had left behind.

A single laugh was caught up in her exhale, "I just wanted to make tonight special."

Her statement, so honest and so discouraged, hung in the air for a second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

"Oh Stephanie, don't you get it?" He asked, tucking a stray strand of her hair behind her right ear.

"Get what, Matthew?" The look in her eyes seared through his soul. It was all too easy to see the mixture of confusion, anxiety, care, trust and concern that was boiling inside her.

 _'I love you,'_ he thought, not daring to use those words out loud. But suddenly he knew it was true. He was in love with Stephanie Claire Cordato.

Instead, he carefully chose his words like a gardener carefully choses which flowers to pick, or like an artist choses their paints, "Every moment I spend with you may not seem important or special to anyone else, but to me every single second I get to spend in your company is more precious and special than you could ever know. And I hope it's not too forward to say so, because it's true. Stephanie, you don't need a shooting star to make tonight special, you're the brightest star in the universe to me."

He waited for the joking fake gag, or for her to roll her eyes cynically. But she didn't.

"Thank you, Matthew. I'm a lucky girl to have a guy as sweet and caring as you," she smiled, the earlier faint pink of her cheeks returning as she nervously avoided eye contact.

Unspoken words floated through the air, dancing to the song of young romance.

Suddenly the real world flooded back with a shiver, the cold night air biting at their cheeks and trying to cut through their many layers of clothing.

“Is it about time to head back to chaos?” He asked.

“I think we had better, before one of us catches a cold.”

“Good thinking, although I think it’d be pretty hard to catch an adjective.”

Steph groaned at the horrible joke, but he saw the tiny quirk of amusement at the corner of her lips.

Matt stood up and offered her his hand, which she accepted while still shaking her head at the horrible joke. Hand in hand they walked back through the park, chatting and joking as they headed back towards the warmth of the Cordato household.

Once they returned they were welcomed inside out of the harsh wind which had picked up as the moon had risen. As he held open the door, Matthew took one last look at the night sky, still smiling at his girlfriend’s prank. And just as he was about to look away, he could swear that amongst the inky black he saw a flash of white, a single star flying in the night. But he didn’t need to make a wish, he thought as he turned to face the brunette he was lucky enough to call his girlfriend. As long as he had her, he didn’t need to wish for anything else. She was far more than enough.

 

**A/N:**

**Hello dear readers!**

**Long time no update! This is because a) my life has been CRAZY BUSY, and b) most of my planned next update was accidentally deleted when my tech crashed. So, this is just a little filler to hopefully tide you over until the next big update! I was inspired to write this after the truth or dare stream, since Matthew told a story similar to this about when he first knew he was in love with Stephanie (how cute). Also, PSA to check Matthew’s Instagram (or any theorist Tumblr or Twitter will also do probably at this point) because there is the CUTEST photo of these two nerds on there (it’s probably the first one, but I’m not totally sure since it might get updated). Side note, it’s funny how much this mirrors my real life, since I just started officially dating my first ever boyfriend, and I met his family, so I can definitely relate to the terror of meeting the family for the first time! But they were super lovely, just like him, so it all went well!**

**Hopefully I can find the inspiration to re-write all those mini-oneshots I had written (I lost at least 8000 words so this will be fun), and so hopefully it won’t be too long before another post, but I make no promises since life is still super hectic atm.**

**I hope you are all having a lovely day, and that you continue to have a lovely day/week/month until we cross paths again!**

**See you in the next chapter!**

**~Lark**


	8. A White Christmas

 

For the first time in years, the Patricks were having a white Christmas. Snow fell gently outside the window of Stephanie's parent's house, making the warm glow of the wood fire seem that extra bit comforting. Love and laughter echoed through the house as family caught up on time spent apart, unable to stop smiling at the loved ones who they finally got to spend time with. 

But it wasn't long before the reality of work called Matthew away to work on scripts for upcoming theories, although he promised not to be long. After some joking remarks, he finally set off for the spare bedroom where he and Steph were staying. He pulled out his laptop and got comfy, also arranging some hand-written notes next to him. Giving a soft sigh he got to work, figuring the sooner he got this done, the more time he could spend with Steph and her family.

Soon words were smoothly flowing from his fingers, the gentle clacking of the keys barely audible over the music playing through his headphones. He got lost in his ideas, surrounded by words delicately piecing the theory together. Time no longer mattered and he was absorbed in his work. He didn't hear the knock on the door, and so jumped when it opened and the familiar face of his wife appeared in the doorway.

"Hey stranger," she joked, and he noted the slight smirk she made from startling him.

"Hey darling, how long has it been?" Matt stretched, suddenly feeling the stiffness in his back and legs.

"Three hours. Time to take a break?" She asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Maybe, but first I'll just-"

"Oh, come on Matthew, it's Christmas tomorrow! I know you've still got work to do, but I kind of wanted to enjoy the snow a bit while it's still light out," she said, the sweet look on her face enough to melt his heart.

"Okay, okay," he smiled, holding up his hands slightly in surrender, "I'll finish this sentence, save, close up and then get ready to brave the cold."

"Don't take too long, or else I'll start building a snowman without you," she teased, getting a false gasp of shock in response. The two continued joking as Steph pulled out both of their 'going out in the snow' outfits and Matt made good on his promise to finish up script writing. 

It wasn't long before he swung open the front door, the cold air hitting them in an unpleasant blast. There wasn't heaps of snow, but just enough to have a bit of fun. Although the low temperature was a mildly unpleasant necessity for the snow, at least they were well prepared for it.

What started as the two of them making a snowman quickly devolved into a full-blown snowball war. Each was pelting the other with compacted balls of snow, while also trying to dodge those being thrown at them. 

There was a satisfying thunk as Steph managed to hit Matt while he was "reloading", which caused a groan of mild irritation. But while Steph was busy giggling, she ended up with a bunch of snow directly to the face, causing her to let out an involuntary shriek at the freezing cold sensation as it spread across her face. This, in turn, only made her more determined to get revenge, doing so in hitting Matt right where she knew some would manage to work its way under his collar and down his back. Her actions earnt her a forebodingly cheeky look from her partner, which translated in her mind as run. So she did, her mind echoing back to many similar snowball incidents over the years as she ran as fast as the snowy ground would permit her.

Suddenly the ground became slippery, causing the cautious Steph to slow down. But Matthew was hot on her heels with a handful of snow, and nothing was going to slow him down. As he got closer and closer, he kept calling out the he was catching up to her in her cautiousness. He was only a few steps away when he slightly miscalculated his next step, his weight just a little too far forward. He was sent tumbling straight into Steph's back, the two of them falling into the snow. Matthew landed on top of her, consciously trying to fall as gently as possible and immediately removing his weight from her body. For a few seconds time froze, both staring into each other's eyes as Matthew's face hovered just inches above Stephanie's. Their panting breath appeared like fog in the cold air, a pink flush on both their cheeks that wasn't just from the cold. Everything seemed to stop for just a moment, and suddenly a spark of passion could be felt out in the cold. But just as Matt closed his eyes and was about to lean in, Steph scooped up a handful of snow and pushed it firmly into the right side of his face.

"Hey!"

Her laughter echoed loud and clear as she took in the stunned and displeased look on his face, however her victory was short lived as the favour was swiftly returned. Wiping the snow from her cheek, she didn't hesitate in scooping a handful of snow and just throwing it in his general direction as they both stood to continue in battle. Continually retaliating each other's attacks, they eventually were both covered in melting snow and full of laughter, their thirst for revenge finally satisfied and replaced with a happy tiredness. Calling it a truce (although Matthew insisted he won), they took to dusting the snow off each other. As the sun began to set, the snow was lit with a golden glow, lighting what was their battlefield in beautiful hues.

Matt took off his scarf in an attempt to shake off any snow before it decided to sneak down his shirt. But before he could even think twice it was suddenly wrapped behind Steph, pulling her close into a gentle kiss. The spark of passion returned between the two, warming them from the inside despite the biting wind. The kiss deepened, both enveloped in the comforting familiarity of each other and swept along by the crackling fire that spark had transformed into.

"Still passionate about frostbite prevention, huh?" She said with a wink once their lips were apart. 

"I'm always an advocate for frostbite prevention if it means kissing you, Stephanie," he replied, obviously trying to be charming, which got him an eye roll and light shove.

"You are hopeless, Matthew Patrick," she shook her head, smiling none-the-less.

"Hopelessly in love with you,” he replied without missing a beat.

"Oh jeez."

"You know it's true.”

"Just because it's true doesn't make it any less cheesy,” she replied, pretending to gag at his sappy antics.

"But you love cheese!"

"Oh my gosh Matthew!"

"What?" He asked, feigning innocence.

Stephanie let out a short laugh of disbelief, "Oh, don't act coy with me.”

"I wasn't acting fishy at all!" He replied, hand to his heart.

"Are you serious," She gave him an unimpressed deadpan look.

"Get it?” he asked, laughing at his own joke, “Fishy because coy sounds like koi, the fish-"

"I didn't need the explanation to understand how horrible that pun was,” Steph interrupted.

"Hey! The internet loves my sense of humour!" He retorted defensively.

"Keep telling yourself that, buddy."

The two of them kept up the playful back and forth as they walked up to the back door, Matt holding the door open for her. 

"I love you, you dork," She said as she passed him.

"I love you too, light of my life," he replied to a sceptical look, but then was surprised by a peck on the cheek. 

"Merry Christmas Eve, Matthew."

"Merry Christmas Eve, Stephanie."

 

**A/N: Merry Christmas!!! Or Happy Holidays/Appropriate Holiday Greeting if you don’t celebrate Christmas!**

**Okay, I know I’m a bit late, but better late than never, right? It doesn’t help I’m working on other projects like a murder mystery event, which hopefully will be cool but is currently just time consuming. I was hoping to write something longer for the holiday season and post it a bit earlier but oh well!**

**I hope you all have/had a wonderful Christmas, and that you continue to have an awesome holiday break period! I may or may not post something for New Years as I’m going down to my Auntie’s house which is a long way away so I probably won’t bring my laptop. But you never know! If I don’t, then Happy New Year too!**

**See you in the next chapter!**

**~Lark**


	9. Something Old, Something New...

 

**A/N: This is written as part of Six-and-a-half-dollar-man’s Year of Theory prompts, which is something Sixer created on Tumblr as a monthly theorist prompt thing. January’s prompt was “Something New” and this is what I created in response:**

She stared down at her notes surrounding a simple poem. Matthew was so funny insisting they had to follow this old tradition, but then again, there was something sweet about it.

 

_Something Old,_

_Something New,_

_Something Borrowed,_

_Something Blue._

 

Her parents had already fulfilled the something old and something borrowed requirements in lending her a pearl jewellery set. She glanced over to where the box sat amongst all the clutter and smiled to herself. Multiple generations of brides in her family had worn these pearls on their wedding day, so it was an honour for her to be the next.

For something blue ideas, she had turned to the internet, which was quick to suggest simply including it in her garter, which was convenient as then it's wouldn't interfere with the cheery yellow of the sunflowers they had chosen as their featured flower.

But next to something new she had a blank space. Sure, her wedding dress was new, as would be her wedding ring, but those felt kind of like cheating.

She sighed, setting the poem aside to look over other preparations they had to make for the day. There was the scribble covered nightmare that was the seating arrangement for their reception, and endless budgeting calculations on another handful of papers. Somehow, this whole wedding thing seemed more trouble than it was worth. Although, looking at the calculations it was worth quite a lot…

"What's up darling?" Matthew asked, jolting her out of her wedding stress induced trance.

"Nothing, nothing," she replied, shuffling the papers back into their neat piles. "Just the usual wedding planning overthinking."

He gasped dramatically, "You were planning without me?!"

She laughed at his over-the-top performance, "Calm down, I was just going over our ideas so far. It's about as interesting as proof reading an assignment."

"I'll have you know our wedding is far more interesting than that!" He said, crossing his arms.

"Obviously it will be, but the planning," she made a face clearly portraying the level of 'not so much fun' she had been feeling for the last hour or so.

"Well, if you ever want someone to proof read with you, I'm your man," he said leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead.

"Yes you are, and almost in a binding legal way too," Steph beamed up at him with a cheeky glint in her eye.

"I'll be happy to be forever tied to a wonderful woman like you, honey," he replied, and she almost rolled her eyes at the cheesiness of his words.

"Geez, someone had too much cheese on his pizza last night."

"Oh, that reminds me, we're still on for dinner with my parents this weekend right? I mean, they've come all this way I just wanted to check you didn't have any last minute work or anything popping up-"

"Of course we're still having dinner with your parents! I love them so much, it'll be great to catch up," She interrupted with a smile, but internally she was slightly dreading the unending wedding talk that would undoubtedly happen on Saturday evening. It felt like everyone she saw only wanted to talk about the wedding, and quite frankly it was starting to get on her nerves. Well, more like trample her nerves with more force than the stampede in The Lion King. She just wanted for their wedding to be a wonderful day for everyone, and so constantly being asked about all the things she hadn’t planned yet was beginning to stress her out.

"Stephanie, are you sure you're okay?" Matt asked in a soft voice, gently rubbing her arms with his hands.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she shook her head and quickly put on a smile, "Yeah, of course. If I need you, I'll let you know."

"You'd better," he teasingly warned. "Hey, I've got to go work on the next Game Theory now, but just call if you need me."

"Okay, talk later," her words were swiftly followed by a peck on the lips, and after a last shared smile, Stephanie was alone again.

 

It was late Saturday afternoon and Stephanie still wasn't ready. As she struggled with her eyeliner, she thought of all the potential questions they might ask her about the wedding. Of course, as Matthew’s parents they were allowed to ask for details, but that just made Steph more determined to have answers pre-prepared in her mind. There was a soft knock at the door.

“Steph, are you almost ready?” She heard her fiancé ask, his voice slightly muffled by the door between them.

“Almost, just trying to finish my makeup without ruining it all,” She replied, and heard a soft laugh through the door.

“Well, no need to rush then. Just letting you know we should get going in about 5-10 minutes.”

 _‘Shoot_ ,’ she thought, going through the still fairly length list of things she had to do before she’d be ready to leave.

“Thanks honey,” she replied before turning her attention back to battling to draw a straight line just above her lash line. With a bit of luck, she could hopefully get it all done before the 10 minutes were up.

 

Just over an hour and a half later they had finally managed to find their way through the busy peak-hour traffic to the restaurant and had found a parking space that wasn’t miles away. It was a fairly nice restaurant, but not so nice that the young couple felt out of place. Once inside, they were quickly escorted to their table upon giving the reservation name. Even amongst all the stress, seeing Matthew’s parents always gave Steph a feeling of warmth. They were both such lovely people, and the genuine joy on both their faces, as well as Matt’s, was just so wholesome. For a moment she felt a pang of pain in her heart as she thought of her own parents and how much she missed them.

“Hello Stephanie, how are you my dear?” The voice of Matt’s mother pulled her out of her thoughts and into a rather tight embrace.

“I’m doing well thanks Mrs Patrick, and you?” She still felt she had to be oddly formal around his parents. She supposed it was a result of not seeing them much, so she still felt like she had to make a good impression despite being included in phone/skype calls on a fairly regular basis.

“I’m well also, thank you. Now let’s see the ring.” Stephanie held out her hand as requested, and despite the ring’s simple yet elegant design people always seemed compelled to compliment it, “It is quite stunning, isn’t it?”

“Nothing but the best for my Stephanie,” Matthew interjected, a proud smile beaming across his face.

They took their seats and the night went on as usual. Discussion topics ranged from wedding details (and Stephanie was thankful she had been prepared, but somehow it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as she had feared) to Matthew’s latest internet videos (his parents tried to keep up, bless them) to even local gossip from back in little Medina, Ohio. They ordered their food, and Steph almost felt she couldn’t thank her soon-to-be-in-laws enough for paying for the meal. The older couple insisted it was their pleasure and they wouldn’t have it any other way, and once again Stephanie was reminded of just how lovely the family she was marrying into was.

The night was almost over when suddenly Mrs Patrick gasped, “How could I almost forget?”

From underneath the table she pulled out a gift bag, adorably coloured in the same green as Matthew had chosen for his Youtube channel’s logo. However instead of passing the bag to her son as Steph had expected, the bag was handed in her direction.

Confused yet curious, Stephanie had to pause for a second for her brain to catch up, “Oh my goodness, thank you so much! You really didn’t have to get me anything-”

As she talked she pulled out a rather ordinary sized box, which had been covered in wrapping paper so as not to give away what was inside.

“Nonsense young lady, you’re practically part of the family and so we’ll give you a gift if we feel like it,” His father said, and she could almost feel the anticipation around the table as her fingertips lingered on the edge of the lid.

“Go on, open it,” Matthew reassured her, probably even more curious than she was.

Lifting the lid, she was greeted with a layer of white tissue paper, but she instantly knew what would be underneath. Lifting the folded layers, a gorgeous pair of white shoes was revealed. Her lips parted ever so lightly in surprise and delight, tears stinging the back of her eyes as she fought them off. Turning the shoes around revealed a peep-toe front, the satin-like fabric beautifully folding to form an elegant design. There were even a few small pearls on the top of the area just above the peep-toe, widening her grateful smile even more.

“These are beautiful, thank you so much!” She said, still in a state of thrilled shock.

“The pleasure is all ours,” Mrs Patrick said with a smile, “Go ahead, try them on!”

She felt a bit like Cinderella as Matthew quickly bent down to help slip on the new shoes, and even more so when they somehow fit like a glove.

“A little birdy had told us you were still looking to fulfil that something new box on your wedding outfit list,” Mr Patrick said with a cheeky smile eerily similar to that of his son.

“These are perfect, oh my gosh. Thank you so, so much,” Steph tried to put as much heartfelt sincerity into her words as she could, but her gratitude could hardly be encapsulated in words.

“You’ve already earnt it through how happy you’ve made our son, and he couldn’t have chosen a better bride. Stephanie, we really will be overjoyed to have you join the Patrick clan,” Matthew’s mother beamed at her, and for a few seconds Stephanie really did think she might cry.

“I’ll be overjoyed to be joining your family, you truly are such wonderful people it’s no wonder your son is such an amazing young man,” She replied, and as she said that she thought that maybe the most important something new she would have on her wedding day would be just that, a new last name.

After all, Stephanie Patrick had quite a nice ring to it.

 

**A/N: Hello dearest readers!**

**Woah, an update without having to wait half a year? What is this madness?!**

**This year (hopefully) I’ll have a more regular update pattern as, in addition to all my previously planned projects, I’m also taking part in the Year of Theory prompts (linked here:** **<https://six-and-a-half-dollar-man.tumblr.com/post/169167420948/welcome-to-the-year-of-theory-yearoftheory-is-a>). The great thing is all of you can participate too, seeing as it doesn’t have to be a fanfic or fanart created in response to the prompt! Just anything to do with the prompt and Team Theorist will do, no matter the format (check out the link for more details if you’re curious). I will probably be doing a mix of fanfics and fanart, but the months I don’t write a prompt I’ll hopefully post a regular fic. If you want to check out the f-art though, my Twitter or Tumblr will be the places to check for those!**

**I really hope you guys have enjoyed this as my interpretation of the theme “Something New”. The initial link between the theme and my idea was actually thanks to a musical I really love called “It Shoulda Been You” (the full show with broadway cast is on Youtube go check it out if you like musicals *cough*), but from there it took it’s own crazy path, so I hope you liked it.**

**Sorry my recent updates haven’t been super long, but I’m working on some longer things in the background, along with other projects and trying to figure out how to digital art and I recently also became obsessed with a video game called Dragon Age Inquisition (I’m a bit late to the party on that one I know but hey it’s awesome). Anyways, the year is starting to ramp up a bit for me, but I still have a little while longer of summer holidays left so hopefully that’s enough time for another fic (fingers crossed, no promises)!**

**Until such a time as I next post, I hope you have an awesome week/month!**

**See you in the next chapter,**

**~Lark**


	10. Lullaby of Love

Lullaby of Love

 

Matthew lowered Oliver into his cot as gently as he could, not wanting to harm his delicate body. Babies were funny little things, so fragile, yet so strong. It was strange to think that everyone had been like that once. As much as his parents thought he was cute as a baby, already he was so beautiful he obviously took after his mother (who was undeniably the cutest baby ever to exist if little Ollie wasn't being counted). As the warmth of his tiny body faded from his arms, Ollie started to stir, a somewhat annoying habit he had. Soon the little grunts turned to whimpers, and then they developed into soft cries of desperation. Matthew's heart broke as he started to think he was abandoned, and Matt gently began to rock the cot set up in the corner of their bedroom. Without having to think twice, Matthew began to sing,

 

"Come stop your crying, it'll be alright,

Just take my hand, and hold it tight

I will protect you from all around you

I will be here, don't you cry"

 

The crying dimmed back to a soft whimper as the voice of his father soothed him. Even though his newborn eyes couldn't see in the darkness, Oliver knew he was there. 

 

"For one so small, you seem so strong

My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm

This bond between us can't be broken

I will be here, don't you cry

'Cause you'll be in my heart

Yes, you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say

You'll be here in my heart

Always"

 

He watched as his child's perfect eyelids fluttered shut and his breathing slowed. Of course, he had been cursed with poop brown eyes, but the enchanting sparkle in them made them possibly the most exquisite brown eyes he had ever seen (again, he obviously took after his mother). Careful not to wake the sleeping boy, he slowly eased the rocking of the cot. He tried to walk away, but he didn't want to leave him alone in the big scary world. So instead he stood there, watching him breathing to check it hadn't stopped when he blinked. 

 

It was the sweetest melody she had heard, or so Stephanie thought as she silently watched her husband sing their child to sleep from the bedroom doorway. The silence of the house only made his singing clearer, the acoustics of the room giving his voice a slight echo. Once he finished, he stood next to the crib for a few minutes before eventually turning to get ready for bed himself. 

 

Oliver certainly lived up to the expectations of a newborn, staining underneath their eyes with dark bags as they tried to survive on 4 hours of interrupted sleep or less. 

"How long had you been standing there?" Matthew whispered as they entered the bathroom across the hall together. 

"Long enough to hear your little lullaby," she replied, her soft smile telling him more than her words ever could. 

Together they got ready for bed, keeping an ear out for Ollie the whole time. 

Lying in bed, side-by-side it was apparent that only now was the realisation of how much this little person was changing their entire world coming to the couple. For one they had to keep Skip downstairs at night, least he decide Ollie was a good cushion to sleep on. 

But at least for Stephanie that meant she got to be the little spoon properly for once, without a cat in the middle.

It didn't take long for the entire Patrick household to be peacefully sleeping. 

 

It's funny how easily life comes crashing down. It started with a slight cough, a bothersome tickle at the back of his throat. A week later Jason and Chris insisted on taking Matthew to the hospital, or at least the doctors. So here Stephanie was, desperately trying to soothe a wailing Oliver at 3:46am, knowing her husband was alone in a hospital bed, coughing non-stop and probably getting even less sleep than she was. Jason and Chris were truly their angels, taking care of Ollie during the day to allow Stephanie to get some much-needed rest, and visiting Matthew when she couldn't due to her little boy.

 

But it was hard to stop a baby from crying when it was all you felt like doing yourself. Stephanie felt useless, she couldn't even care for her own child without help. True, she had never had a super strong maternal instinct, but surely she could at least help her own son calm down.

 _'What do I do?'_ She thought, desperately trying to think of any solution.

"Shhh, Ollie, mommy's got you, it's alright. I've already tried everything, what do you want? Probably your dad, but he can't be here right now," the crying only got louder, as if he knew what the words meant. Why couldn't she be the sick one? 

 _'What would Matthew do?'_ she asked herself. An answer appeared instantly, but she shook it away. It wouldn't work if she did it, Stephanie knew her voice was mediocre at best. Yet as her child continued to howl in her arms no matter how much she bounced or rocked, Steph sighed and hesitantly cleared her throat,

 

"I'm sorry I'm not as good of a singer, but you're going to have to forgive me:

Come stop your crying, it'll be alright

Just take my hand, and hold it tight"

 

A tiny hand wrapped tightly around her index finger, and Steph paused for a moment. A pair of brown eyes stared expectantly up into hers.

 

"I will protect you from all around you

I will be here, don't you cry"

 

She couldn't believe it had worked. She silently thanked Matthew wherever he was, her heart sending a pang of pain through her body as she thought of him hooked up to machines, their humming the only noise filling the very empty room. Then the fussing began from the little bundle in her arms, so she resumed rocking, holding back the tears that threatened her eyes.

 

"For one so small, you seem so strong

My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm

This bond between us can't be broken

I will be here, don't you cry"

 

Ollie had almost completely stopped crying, but Stephanie could hear her own voice struggling as she choked back the sorrow that threatened to overcome her. What if Matthew didn't… what if he… No, she couldn't afford to think like that. She needed to just finish this lullaby and get some rest. Matthew was in the best care possible, she had to trust he would pull through. Stumbling over the lyrics she kept going, the wells in her eyes eventually running over, trailing streams down her cheeks.

 

"'Cause you'll be in my heart

Yes, you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more

You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say

You'll be here in my heart

Always"

 

It was true, both Matthew and now Oliver Julian Patrick would forever live in her heart. And as much pain as that may cause her, it was worth it because if Stephanie had learnt anything in life, it was that love is one of the most powerful things in the world.

So as she lay cuddled up to the body pillow Matthew had bought her when she began having trouble sleeping during pregnancy, she felt him stir in her heart and knew that even though the bed felt cold and empty, he never left her, just as he never left Ollie. He was always there in their hearts.

 

It was a joyous occasion when Matthew was finally deemed well enough to be safe to come home to his family, as it had taken longer due to risk of infecting Ollie. But after a couple of weeks spent in hospital and on a friend's pull-out sofa bed, how could Matthew not be excited to be able to return home. Steph had video called him as often as possible of course, with updates on Ollie and life in general, but she was often busy, and besides which it was really no substitute for being beside her in person and being able to wrap her safely within his arms.

That was not to mention the pain of being unable to see his son, who even at only weeks old had already completely and utterly captured his heart. Of course, being a parent was not without its challenges, but it would always be worth it, that much Matthew knew in his heart of hearts. Oliver was a miracle, and before sickness had torn them apart Matthew had spent hours upon hours just staring at him, watching his fascination with the most mundane things like mirrors and cameras. His tiny brown eyes were so full of curiosity and a hunger for learning, it was enchanting to watch. Matthew had missed him so much he could feel it like a pain in his chest.

Pulling up into the driveway of his house, his home, was like finding the missing piece of a puzzle, and everything in the world suddenly seemed brighter. But nothing could match the brightness of his smile as he climbed out of the car to see the front door open to Stephanie with Ollie wrapped safely in her arms. From behind her he could hear the cheers of Chris and Jason, as well as a few other members of team theorist and their close friends. As he wrapped his arms around his family he finally felt at peace, a warm contentment he hadn't felt since he left finding its way to his heart once more. 

 

Later that night, Stephanie wiped away tiredness from her eyes as she did the last of the tidying up before heading upstairs to bed. Although everyone had helped with clean up, she had insisted on packing away the last handful of dishes herself, something which she now was somewhat regretting. But it didn't matter to her, as despite how tired she was nothing could wipe the smile off her face.

Matthew was home. Matthew was healthy. Matthew was here.

She felt an almost indescribable feeling in her chest, probably best described as a combination of peace and love. It surrounded her heart like a warm blanket, and she was finally able to let go of the tension she had unknowingly held over the last few weeks.

Having completed her final chores, she wearily made her way upstairs, coming to a stop just before the door to their bedroom. From inside she heard a familiar sound,

 

"…For one so small, you seem so strong

My arms will hold you, keep you safe and warm"

 

Matthew was singing to Ollie, rocking slowly back and forth as the two gazed at each other with what could only be described as unconditional love in their eyes.

 

"This bond between us can't be broken

I will be here, don't you cry."

 

"'Cause you'll be in my heart," Matthew's head lifted immediately as Stephanie tentatively sang the beginning of the chorus, and smiled so wide she couldn't help but smile back.

"Yes, you'll be in my heart

From this day on

Now and forever more,"

Their two voices interwove in a melody of love. It wasn't perfect, but it was real and true. Matthew's hand slid around Stephanie's waist as she slipped her arm over the one holding Ollie and the other around Matt. They were together once more, a family, and everything felt at peace.

 

"You'll be in my heart

No matter what they say

You'll be here in my heart

Always"

 

**A/N: Hi everyone!**

**Yes, I am still here, this year has just been busier than expected, not to mention I’ve had several run ins with writer’s block. But for ages I’ve had this half-written, even before little Ollie was announced, and I thought in light of the revelations of the past few days it might be nice to share this sweet little fanfic. To show how old it is I originally wrote them having a little girl named Eloise, so if there are still some she or her pronouns in there that’s why (because late night editing is a bad idea).**

**I’m sorry it’s been so long since I posted, I’ve wanted to post more often but I’ve just not been sure what to write. I was thinking of doing a pregnancy/baby otp prompts type thing, so if you have any ideas of what you’d like to see feel free to comment them/send them to me over twitter or tumblr. If you guys have any other ideas or prompts you’d like me to base something on, go ahead and suggest it! I also know a few of you have requested a continuation of that Once Upon A Time style prompt I did a while ago that kind of ended on a cliff-hanger (sorry not sorry), and I’m currently watching season 7 of OUAT so I feel like now is as good a time as ever, so maybe I might work on that too if people are still interested (no promises though)**

**I have just gone back to uni for the second semester of the year, plus I’m in a musical (“Can Can” for all you theatre nerds) so I probably won’t have much time for fic writing so I make no promises, but you never know if I get particularly inspired I might just finish one of the three or four other fics I have lying around, or I might start on something new!**

**Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments, your support is always so lovely even when I’m not posting regularly. I hope this has brightened up your day in the same way hearing from you guys brightens mine! And remember if you guys ever need to talk to someone, the Theorist Community, especially the more dedicated GTLive fandom, are all really lovely and caring. Whatever you’re going through, you are not alone, there are others that care that you’re here, seek help if you need it and keep fighting like the champion I know you can be!**

**Until I post next, I hope you have a great week/month!**

**See you in the next chapter,**

**~Lark**


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